


See You Next Summer

by mbarnard



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Bullying, Cheerleader Waverly Earp, F/F, First Kisses, High School, Nicole and Waverly are bunkmates, Senior year, Stargazing, Summer Camp, religious summer camp, struggles with being gay and a Christian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28828755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mbarnard/pseuds/mbarnard
Summary: It's summer 2009 and Nicole is headed to Camp War Eagle, her favorite place in the world. It's a place she can escape from bullying at school and her religious parents, who would for sure not be okay with the fact that Nicole is gay. She knows she will have to tread lightly because this summer camp is all about Jesus.Going into the 2 week session with no expectations other than to conquer some fears of heights, maybe make some new friends, and to just have fun and be a 14 year old kid, all of that goes out the window when Waverly Earp walks into her cabin.This is a summer camp/high school AU that will explore the relationship between Nicole and Waverly starting when they are 14.This is also my first fic ever so... if it sucks, I'm sorry. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions!
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 53
Kudos: 138





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Nicole arrives at camp  
> Nicole meets Waverly, gay panic ensues

**Summer 2009**

Nicole was sitting in the backseat of her parents car, headphones in her ears, practically bouncing in her seat because of the growing anticipation of getting back to her favorite place in the entire world. She had been able to download all of her favorite songs from her favorite place onto her iPod and had been listening to them non stop for the past 3 weeks. 

She started packing her bags and bugging her parents to go out and buy everything that she would need the day after school let out for summer. Knowing how excited Nicole was to return to her favorite place, they humored her and took her to Target to get all the essentials, despite the day of their current hour drive still being 3 weeks away.

Staring out the window, Nicole let out a small squeal when the sign finally came into view, _Camp War Eagle._

Upon hearing the shrill sound that came from Nicole’s mouth, her mother turned to look at her from the front seat and gestured for her to take the headphones out of her ears. Once she was sure that Nicole could hear her, she asked her what she was most excited about doing.

“Well...,” Nicole let out a huff of air like she was preparing herself for the word vomit that she was sure was about to tumble out of her mouth. “...Last summer I tried to water ski but at the last second I got too scared and chickened out, so I definitely want to try that again. And I want to try archery. They have riflery too but I don’t know if they will let me try that yet. I also want to play mini golf, try to go down a ramp at the skatepark, make shrinky dinks, swim in the lake, go fishing, ride mountain bikes, the water slides, the blob and of course the food. Camp has REALLY good food. Oh and….”

Her mother cut her off with a laugh “So you’re excited to do literally everything this camp has to offer.”

“Actually no. I’m still too scared to climb the rock wall or do the ropes course because I still don’t like how high up it is. But I think I might try the trapeze that swings out over the pool, it’s not as high up and it reminds me of the rope swing back at the swimming hole.”

“Well you are a great swimmer so you shouldn't be too worried about that one,” her father said from the driver’s seat. 

“Yeah…,” Nicole said trailing off a bit. Her mother turned again from the front seat to look at Nicole. She was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and staring out the window again, looking deep in thought.

“What is it, Nic?”

“What?” Nicole saw her mother looking at her and she snapped out of her previous thought. “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how I don’t think any of that stuff is actually my favorite thing to do at camp. I think my favorite is when the whole camp gathers in the gym and the counselors play songs, do skits and someone gives a devotional. I like the worship songs that we sing.” 

“That’s great, Nic. I love that. Every summer when you come home, you don’t stop singing those songs for at least a month,” her mother laughed.

“Yeah, sorry about that…” she gave her mom a shy smile. “This summer though, I am going to actually try and pay attention to the stuff the counselors are talking about during the devotionals we have in our cabins at night. Some of my friends at school talk about the Bible and most of the time, I have no idea what they’re talking about. It makes me feel kind of dumb.”

“Oh honey, that’s okay,” her father began, “you don’t have to know the ins and outs of the Bible to be a good Christian. You just have to know Jesus in your heart and know the sacrifices He made for us. You show your faith and love for Him through your actions and how you love others. Sure, there are great lessons to learn from the Bible, but you have a whole lifetime to learn them. Just be you, kid. Go be a 14 year old at summer camp and don’t let yourself get hung up on thinking that you aren’t doing enough.”

Nicole’s father was a man of few words, so hearing that speech from her father had her at a loss for words. Nicole offered him a huge smile, which he turned around briefly to return, accepting that his words to his daughter had been the right thing to say. 

They were silent for a bit longer as they made it to where the line of cars began for check in. Nicole rolled down her window and could hear the over enthusiastic counselors in the distance that were lined up to greet each car. 

“I hope my counselors are cool this year. That one I had last year named Stephanie was a total bitch.”

“NICOLE,” both her mother and father said at the same time.

“What?! I’m just saying! All she talked about was her dumb college boyfriend and wouldn’t let us leave for free time early even though all the other cabins got to! She acted like she had a stick up her a…butt” Nicole caught herself to prevent being scolded again. Her mother just shot her a warning glare. 

Nicole was about to further justify her reasoning as to why Stephaine was a crap counselor, but she was cut off by a very loud college aged boy coming up to her window and scaring the shit out of her.

“HELLO WELCOME TO CAMP WAR EAGLE,” he screamed. The chorus of counselors behind him cheered as if on cue. “What’s your name, red?” 

“Nicole Haught, H-A-U-G-H-T.”

The man flipped some pages on his clipboard and rolled his pen down the page until he stopped on what Nicole assumed was her name and put a checkmark beside it. 

“PERFECT,” his voice way too loud for their close proximity, “Looks like your home will be cabin 6 for the next 2 weeks!” He took out a sticky note, wrote “6” on it and passed it through the window to her. “Just stick that on your windshield and another counselor will show you where to park to unload your stuff!” And with that, he was gone and moving on to the car behind them.

_I think I’ve gone deaf and I’ve been here 2 minutes_.

They followed the line of cars until someone was waving them down and directing them to park in front of cabin 6. 

There were 20 girls cabins (cabins 1-20) and 20 boys cabins (cabins 21-40). The youngest girls stayed in number 20 and the oldest stayed in number 1. The youngest boys stayed in number 21 and the oldest in 40. For the last few summers, it seems that Nicole was always in even numbered cabins. Last summer she was in 8, the summer before she was in 10, and 12 before that. It seems that the trend will continue this summer as well. 

Another counselor who seems way too happy to be there helps get Nicole’s suitcase and sleeping bag out of the trunk and leads the family into the cabin. There are two counselors and one other girl that is Nicole’s age sitting on the floor with white paper and markers spread out everywhere. 

“Hi there! My name is Sarah and I’ll be one of you counselors!” She gestures to the other college aged girl “and this is Jenny! We’re so excited for the next 2 weeks! What’s your name, hun?” 

“Nicole,” she says as she gives them a shy smile. 

“It’s very nice to meet you Nicole,” Jenny says. She points to the other girl who is currently drawing on a piece of paper, “This is Chrissy and she is in our cabin too. I was just helping her make a name tag that y’all can put on your bunks so everyone can learn each other’s names!”

“Jenny, Chrissy and I have our beds all picked out and you’re only the 2nd camper to show up so you can pick any bed that you want,” Sarah says. _I’m glad I bugged mom and dad to leave sooner so I could get here early enough to get a bottom bunk!_

  
  


Nicole does a quick scan of the cabin. It’s pretty much a giant rectangular wooden box with 3 bunk beds along one long wall and 4 bunk beds along the other. It looks like the counselors have each picked a bottom bunk in one of the corners and Chrissy has chosen the top bunk on the bed closest to the door. 

Being quite shy and needing a place to retreat sometimes, Nicole carries her sleeping bag over to the corner bottom bunk that is furthest away from the door. Her father nods and carries her suitcase over as well. Her mother helps Nicole put her sheet on the mattress while her father takes some of the bulkier items out her suitcase. He sets out her clip-on fan, her pairs of shoes, her journal and bible and the extra blanket that her mother insists that she bring. Once everything besides her clothes are laid on the bed, she begins to set up her space.

She plugs her fan in and clips it on one of the ladder beams near her head, places her journal, Bible, flashlight and a pouch of pens and pencils in the small cubby that is built into the wall. She spreads out her sleeping bag and places the extra blanket at the foot of her bed to appease her mother. 

Once everything is in place, she turns around to her parents who have been standing behind her and watching as she excitedly settled into her home for the next 2 weeks. 

“Do you need help with anything else before we take off, Nic?” her father asks.

“No, I think I have everything done. I guess now I just need to make my nametag for my bunk.”

“Okay....,” her mother trails off, her voice slightly shaky, “we will leave you to it then.” She gestures for Nicole to give her a hug. She walks over to both her parents who have bent down to be at her height so she can wrap her arms around their necks. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too, Nic. Just remember, don’t go into these 2 weeks thinking you need to accomplish something,” her father says as she releases them from their hug. He puts his hands on her shoulders, “Just be a 14 year old kid at summer camp and have fun.”

“Thanks dad, I will! I love you!”

“Love you too!,” her parents say in unison on their way out the door. 

She stands at the door for a few seconds and watches her parents walk back to their car until she feels a hand on her shoulder. She looks up and sees Sarah smiling down at her. “Do you want to come and work on your name tag? You can draw whatever you want on it and make sure that if you have a nickname or another name you prefer to be called, write it on there so everyone knows.”

“Everyone usually calls me Nic. I only get called Nicole when I’m getting in trouble.”

Sarah chuckles, “Well Nic it is, then.”

. . .

Nicole spends the next hour making her nametag, chatting with her counselors, and putting on the finishing touches of organizing her bunk. The other 11 girls that she will be sharing the cabin with slowly trickle in and set up their bunks. So far, most of the girls have been easy for Nicole to talk to and get along with. Except for that one weird girl that hasn’t said a word since she got here, besides meowing like a cat when people tried to talk to her. _There’s probably at least one weirdo in every cabin._

When Nicole gets done redoing her sleeping bag for the 4th time to make sure it looks perfect, she notices that there is only one girl who hasn’t shown up yet and the only bed left open is the bed above hers. She is starting to get bouncy again due to the anticipation of meeting her bunkmate. 

Nicole has had amazing luck when it comes to bunkmates over her summers at camp. She is still good friends with one of them and it was lucky that they live in the same town so they can stay in touch. Shae is probably the only person in the whole world who knows why Nicole loves Camp War Eagle as much as she does. Shae is the only person Nicole will talk to about anything too deep or personal. She is also the only one who sees the hardships that Nicole faces at school. 

Nicole doesn’t open up to people. The only reason she confides in Shae is because she witnessed one of the incidents at school and was there to comfort Nicole after it happened. That moment brought them closer together and helped Nicole decide that she could trust Shae. Since then, they have been partners in crime. Sadly, Shae was not able to go to camp during the same two week session as Nicole because her family was going to the beach for vacation. Of course Nicole was crushed when she found out her best friend wouldn’t be by her side, but she was determined to not let it dampen her excitement. 

Nicole was laying on her bunk when a loud argument outside the cabin broke Nicole out of her thoughts about Shae. 

“Gus, why do we have to move Baby Girl in first? I’m in cabin 1 this year, I should be able to claim seniority or some shit!”

“Language Wynonna,” this came from the woman that Nicole assumed was Gus. 

A third unknown voice began speaking, “Gah Wynonna, it will literally take 2 seconds for you to put my suitcase down and then you can go to your cabin!”

“Well let's speed it up Baby Girl. Mercedes is already here and we need to go scope out the hot boys in cabin 40!”

“You’re ridiculous. Will you at least open the door for me please?” the un-named voice said. 

Upon hearing the cabin door open, Nicole moved her gaze from the ceiling of her bunk to the door just as a small girl with brown wavy hair stepped through. She was wearing a tye-dye tank top, blue shorts and flip flops. Her hair cascaded down past her shoulders to her middle back and Nicole found herself caught in a daze. _God this girl is so beautiful… No Nicole! You can’t think things like that. Not here. You don’t want to be the freak at summer camp too._

“OKAY I’m leaving, bye,” Wyonna said with her foot halfway out the door, Gus following behind her with a suitcase. The smaller girl huffed in frustration as she tried to pick up the trunk that Wynonna had carried in for her. 

Blinking rapidly and shaking her head in an attempt to get her shit together, Nicole watched as Jenny helped the girl carry the trunk over toward the only available bed left. _OF COURSE this goddess is who I’m going to share a bunk with for 2 freaking weeks._

After Jenny helped the girl get her trunk situated in the corner next to Nicole’s suitcase she turned and gestured to Nicole, “Waverly, this is Nicole and she will be your bunkmate. Nicole, this is Waverly.” 

“Waverly,” Nicole repeats the name to herself in a barely there whisper. Nicole awkwardly extends her hand toward Waverly and automatically feels like a complete idiot. _Why are you trying to shake her hand, you’re not at a damn job interview! You’re 14 for fucks sake, no one shakes hands!_

Unaware of Nicole’s inner turmoil, Waverly looks down shyly for a moment before extending her hand as well and taking Nicole’s. They both look up at the same time and lock eyes with each other. _God her eyes are beautiful, her name is beautiful, everything about her is so perfect. How am I going to keep my shit together?? You could start by giving her hand back you big idiot!_

Nicole releases Waverly’s hand, blushes with embarrassment and looks down at the ground. While staring a hole into the floor, she misses the shy smile and the pink tint on Waverly’s cheeks. 

“Oooookayyy well I will leave you to unpack,” Jenny says with a knowing smile before walking away and over to some of the girls that were still working on their nametags. Nicole chances a look up at Waverly and asks if she needs any help. 

“Yeah…that would be great. Thank you.”

Nicole gives her a wide smile and hopes that Waverly notices the dimple on her left cheek that everyone says is adorable. 

The two girls work in silence as Waverly pulls out the sheets and comforter for her bed. Waverly climbs up to the top bunk to put the sheet on and Nicole begins to hand her everything out of her suitcase. Nicole passes up her flashlight, Bible, journal, some envelopes and stamps, a clip-on fan and an adorable stuffed dog. Waverly blushes a bit as she takes the dog from Nicole’s hand and Nicole just smiles up at her. 

“Thank you for helping me,” Waverly says as she climbs back down off the bed. She circles around toward Nicole and reaches up to make sure that her sheet is tucked under the mattress. She is just a bit too short to reach so Nicole comes up beside her to help. As she reaches up, their hands briefly touch and Nicole thinks that she might have a heart attack. 

Nicole thinks she might have a second heart attack when Waverly makes no effort to move her hand away from underneath Nicole’s light touch. Nicole slowly turns her head to look over at Waverly, who has a giant smile on her face, and Nicole is sure that she is grinning back at her like a dopey idiot. They stand and look at each other for what seems like hours until someone yelling interrupts them. It’s Wynonna once again. 

“Baby Girl! Come say goodbye to Gus and then let’s go to the chow hall and get some ice cream!”

Wynonna’s interruption seems to break them both out of their trance. They each let out an awkward chuckle and suddenly find the floor very interesting. 

“I have to go say bye to my aunt so she can get back to my uncle Curtis. When I get back, would you maybe want to walk to dinner together?” Waverly asks in a hopeful tone. 

Nicole’s dopey smile shows back up at this. “Of course! I would love that, bunk buddy.”

Waverly giggles and flashes her gorgeous smile at Nicole before turning walking outside the cabin. Once Waverly is out of sight, Nicole groans and falls face first into her bed. “Bunk buddy?? Seriously, who says that??” She says into her pillow. 

Nicole is unaware that Jenny had seen the entire interaction between the two girls and was now sitting on her bed with a shit eating grin on her face. She raises her eyebrows when she makes eye contact with Sarah across the room. Sarah must have seen the interaction as well because she places both hands over her heart like she’s swooning over what she just witnessed. They seem to come to a silent agreement about the adorableness of it all and return to their previous tasks. 

Nicole turns over in her bed so she is laying on her back and concentrates on the ceiling of her bunk. _You need to get your shit together Haught or you’ll end up being the freak here too._

She closes her eyes and lets out a long breath. With her eyes closed, all she can focus on is Waverly’s gorgeous smile and her adorable laugh. Her beautiful hazel eyes. The way she looks down when she’s feeling shy. The way the corners of her eyes crinkle when she smiles. The way it felt when their hands touched. How she imagined it would feel to hold her hand as they walked to dinner together. 

_Cut it out Haught, you can’t be thinking things like that here! If anyone finds out that you like girls, you are done for._

She hears Waverly’s melodious laugh come from outside, followed by her yelling goodbye to her aunt. Nicole’s heart skips a beat at the sound. She lets out a long sigh. 

_This is going to be a long 2 weeks._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole and Waverly become closer  
> Waverly is still freezing, even in the summer  
> Mid-session camping trip

“Have you been to camp before?” Waverly asks as she and Nicole sit down at a table with their dinner trays.

“Yeah I’ve come for the past 3 summers. It seems like it gets better every time I get to come. I live about an hour away and had always heard about people going to Beaver Lake. So when I found out that there was a summer camp on the lake, I made my parents get all the information and here I am.”

“That’s amazing! Wynonna has come here since she was little but I was always too scared to be away from home for 2 weeks. Wynonna finally convinced me to come this year after…” Waverly trails off and shakes her head. Nicole got the feeling that she almost said something that she wasn’t quite ready for Nicole to know. “...Anyway. I live pretty close to camp and a lot of my friends from school come here too.”

“Yeah my best friend usually comes the same time I do but she is at the beach right now with her family. But honestly, I would rather be right here than at some beach.” Nicole looks over and gives Waverly her best dimpled smile. 

Waverly face becomes pink and looks down shyly, “Yeah, me too.”

They continue to chat through dinner and never run out of things to talk about. Waverly learns about Nicole’s fear of heights and they make a deal that they will both try the ropes course together one day. Nicole mentions that Waverly should come with her out on the lake when she gives water skiing another try. Waverly hesitates at first. She tells Nicole the story about her falling through the ice when she was young and how she has been afraid of water ever since.

Nicole and Waverly decide that over the next 2 weeks, they will try to do the things that scare them. But do them together. 

. . .

The first few days of camp for Nicole go off without a hitch. She has loved every second and has made it a point to dive deep into the conversations during devotional time each night. She takes extra time after lights out to write in her journal and go over the passages from the Bible that were the focus of the night. 

The first night while falling asleep, she feels the bed shaking slightly. She assumes that Waverly might have been crying since she told Nicole that it was hard for her to be away from home. Nicole didn’t think that they were quite at the place in their friendship to where she could check on her and make sure Waverly was okay. She didn’t want to embarrass her if she was crying. 

When the shaking continued every night after that, Nicole did become concerned. During the day though, Waverly was very happy and bubbly and it didn’t seem that she was upset at all. Nicole notices that Wynonna made sure to check on her at every meal to see how she was doing. 

It is now Wednesday, the 4th night of camp, and Nicole wakes up to the feeling of her bunk shaking. She checks her watch and sees that it’s 3:30am. She lays there for a moment and listens for signs that Waverly could be crying but doesn’t hear anything. She tries to go back to sleep but the shaking becomes more violent. 

Nicole quietly slips out of her bed and peeks up to the top bunk where she sees Waverly wrapped up in her comforter.  _ How is she not burning up right now? It’s like 90 degrees in here. _

“Waverly.” Nicole whispers and she gently touches her arm. 

Waverly turns over to see Nicole standing on her tiptoes with concern in her brown eyes.

“Nicole, what is it? Are you okay?”

“Oh everything’s fine. I just wanted to check on you because I can feel the bunk shaking. I thought… I thought maybe you were upset and crying.”

Waverly lets her concern fade away now that she knows Nicole is alright and immediately feels embarrassed. “Oh.. no I’m not crying. I um….” she trails off and Nicole can tell that she’s blushing a bit, even in the darkness. “I just can’t seem to get warm… I guess I should have brought another blanket or something.”

Nicole can’t believe it. She lays in bed all night and sweats and never uses more than her thin sleeping bag as a blanket. How in the world is this girl cold in a cabin that doesn’t have air conditioning in the heat of summer?

Nicole let out a small chuckle and whispers, “Only you would be freezing in this thousand degree cabin. Hang on one second.” She disappears from Waverly’s view and she hears some rustling going on below her. She suddenly feels a weight on the foot of her bed and sits up. Nicole climbs a few of the ladder steps at the foot of the bed and throws something at Waverly. 

“Here, you can wear this sweatshirt that I brought. I also have this extra blanket that I’m not using if you want a bonus blanket.” she whispers. 

In the darkness, Waverly can still see the kindness in Nicole’s eyes and happily pulls the sweatshirt over her head. Nicole grabs the blanket to unfold it when Waverly stops her by grabbing her hand to still her movements. Waverly leans forward on the bed a bit to take her other hand. She pulls Nicole forward to help her climb up the rest of the way and sit at the opposite end of the bed, facing her. Once Nicole is situated, Waverly retracts one hand but leaves the other clasped in Nicole’s. 

Unaware of Nicole’s racing heart, she looks at her with a small smile “Thank you… you didn’t have to give me your blanket.”

“Oh it’s no big deal, my mom made me bring it. Besides, I can’t have you shivering all night. It keeps me awake,” Nicole teases and gives Waverly’s hand a squeeze. 

“Sorry about that… Have I woken you up every night?”

“No this is the first time you’ve woken me up. I usually just feel it when I’m sitting up writing in my journal before falling asleep. Don’t worry about it,” she gives Waverly’s hand another squeeze. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

“Thank you for checking on me. I’m so sorry I’ve been bothering you at night.” Waverly looks down shyly at their clasped hands.

Nicole loses the part of herself that has been trying to control this crush and reaches over to tuck a finger under Waverly’s chin to bring them eye to eye once more. She moves her hand to Waverly’s jaw and strokes the side of her cheek with her thumb. “Waverly, you will never be a bother.” 

Waverly gives her the most gorgeous smile she has ever seen. To Nicole’s surprise, she glances down again at their hands and intertwines her fingers with Nicole’s. They stay this way for a few more seconds, smiling like idiots in love. Suddenly, Nicole seems to snap back to reality. 

“Um…” she says in a high pitched squeak, “well I’ll let you get back to sleep. I’m sorry I woke you, but at least you’ll be a bit warmer now.” She makes a move to climb back down to her bed before Waverly tugs on her hand to stop her.

“WAIT,” she cringes and makes sure that no one else in the cabin stirs before continuing, “w-would you maybe want to… will you lay up here with me for a minute? Y-you know at least until I get warm. If not that’s totally okay. Now that I’m saying it sounds a little weird and this is only a twin sized bed and you’re probably not even cold and-”

“Waverly!” Nicole scream whispers to stop Waverly’s rambling. “Of course I’ll lay with you.”

Waverly smiles at that and finally releases Nicole’s hand. She scoots over to the edge of the mattress to make room for Nicole to lay down. 

Nicole, on the other hand, is dying inside at the fact that she will be laying so close to her crush. She gets situated in the spot between Waverly and the wall and suddenly doesn’t know what to do with her hands. In an attempt to make more room, she turns on her side and is now face to face with Waverly on the pillow. With one arm now trapped under her body, she hesitantly places the other across Waverly’s waist. 

“Is this okay?” she asks the still shivering girl.

“This is perfect,” Waverly says as she cuddles in even closer to Nicole. “You’re really warm.”

Nicole chuckles, “I’m just glad you’re okay now.” She glances over at the girl she can already tell is on the verge of sleep. “Goodnight Waves.”

“Goodnight Nic.” 

She lays there for a few more moments and feels Waverly’s breathing even out, indicating that she had fallen back asleep. Waverly was now cuddled up to Nicole and clinging to the front of her shirt in a desperate attempt for warmth. Nicole was already sweating due to being under a comforter and the bonus blanket, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her only focus was the perfect girl snuggled up to her.

When she’s sure that Waverly is asleep, she gets a surge of bravery and leans over to press a kiss to Waverly’s forehead. Waverly unconsciously pulls Nicole closer to her and wraps the hand that was clinging to her shirt around Nicole’s waist. There is no way that Nicole could slip back down to her bed without waking the sleeping girl. Nicole was perfectly okay with that.

Nicole smiles to herself and whispers into the night, “I am in so much trouble.”

. . .

During the weekend in the middle of the 2 week session, cabins 1-6 get to go on a camping trip about 10 minutes away from the main camp. In the previous summers, Nicole was always jealous that only the older cabins got to go because she loved camping. So saying that Nicole was beyond excited that she finally gets to go is for sure an understatement. 

Everyone will be heading out to the campsite after dinner and stay tonight, tomorrow night, and come back on Sunday morning after breakfast. Yesterday, they “assigned” the girls to tents, but Nicole is very glad that Jenny and Sarah turned out to be great counselors and let the girls pick who they shared with. Nicole and Waverly both quickly jumped at the chance to spend more time together. Admittedly, Nicole was excited, and also super nervous, about sleeping next to Waverly again. 

After she had given Waverly her extra blanket, she seemed to make it through the night without shivering. She also claimed Nicole’s sweatshirt as her own and refused to let her have it back. But instead of wearing it at night, she has been falling asleep with it wrapped in her arms, breathing in Nicole’s vanilla scent. The night after she gave Waverly the blanket and sweatshirt, when she was done writing in her journal, she slipped out of bed and peeked up at Waverly to make sure she was okay. That was when she saw Waverly cuddled up with her face buried in the piece of clothing. Nicole had never seen anything so adorable in her life. She settled back in her bed and fell asleep that night with her heart fluttering and a ridiculous grin on her face. 

Waverly and Nicole climbed off the bus after the short 10 minute drive and began gathering all their supplies so they could begin the walk to the campsite. They walked there together and it was hard for Nicole to ignore the few times that Waverly’s hand lightly brushed hers. She didn’t let herself think much of it and decided it was an accident. _She doesn't like you, she just sees you as a friend. You aren't that lucky, Haught._

“I’m excited to finally get to go on the camping trip. When everyone came back, they always talked about how beautiful it was since it’s right by the lake. I’ve heard that you can see the stars really well too since the only light out here will be from the campfire.” Nicole looked over at Waverly and purposely brushed her fingertips against Waverly’s hand, to test the waters a bit. “We should go stargazing tonight. I mean if you want to, you may not even-” 

Waverly briefly grabs Nicole’s hand and gives it squeeze. “That sounds amazing, Nicole. I would love to.” 

“O-okay great,” she manages to stumble out. _She grabbed your hand again. Maybe she likes you too. Or she's just a touchy person._ Nicole pulls herself out of her thoughts when she finally sees the lake. “Looks like we’re here.”

They come to stop to take in the amazing sight before them. They walk up to a huge clearing that has a few firepits, some benches and a small bathhouse. The lake shore is right beside the fire pits and there are a few benches near the water as well. Nicole makes a mental note that those benches would be a great place to take Waverly to stargaze. 

They walk over to the area designated for the girls in cabin 6 to set up their tents. They work together, joking and laughing back and forth, and have everything ready to go in no time. Being some of the first people done, they help some of the other girls set up their tents. The counselors tell everyone that they have some free time before they are going to make the campfires and give the girls some time to explore the area. 

Waverly immediately begins pulling Nicole down toward the lake. They spend the next hour or so wading in the water, skipping rocks and splashing around like small children. By the time it’s time to go sit by the fire, they are both soaked. They sit on the ground huddled close together, thankful for the warmth of the fire. The rest of their cabin, plus Sarah and Jenny, were all sitting in a circle talking about their favorite parts of camp so far, singing songs, telling scary stories and just enjoying the cool night air. 

With their clothes now dry, Nicole and Waverly were sitting on one of the benches with Waverly’s bonus blanket draped over their laps. Throughout the night, both girls would subtly try to scoot a little closer to each other. This didn’t go unnoticed by Jenny and Sarah, who were watching the interaction and would smile knowingly at each other every time either of the girls made a move.

The stars were now bright in the clear sky and Jenny was telling some story about how she broke her arm when she was a kid. About halfway through the story, Nicole felt Waverly’s pinky brush against her hand that was laying on the bench. Nicole froze and her heart started beating out of her chest. It wasn’t that she was worried about anyone seeing them, their hands were covered by the bonus blanket. This was just a classic case of gay panic. Nicole thinks that Waverly sensed the change in her demeanor because Waverly immediately moved her hand away, but kept it resting on the bench.

Not wanting Waverly to think she did anything wrong, Nicole moved her hand to where her pinky brushed Waverly’s hand. When she didn’t pull away, Nicole got a surge of bravery and moved her hand to rest over Waverly’s. Both girls were still looking forward, pretending to listen to Jenny’s story. After a few seconds, Waverly turned her hand over so that she could lace her fingers with Nicole’s. _Oh god, keep it together. Friends hold hands right? But if she just means it as friends, why is she so nervous?_

“Is this... okay?” she whispered to Nicole.

“Absolutely.” _Maybe she likes me too._

Nicole couldn’t help the small smile that formed on her face, and when Waverly leaned her head over to rest on Nicole’s shoulder, Nicole had never smiled so big in her life. She leaned her head over to rest on top of Waverly’s, loving the feeling of Waverly’s hand in her own. She still wanted to take Waverly down by the lake to stargaze, but she couldn’t bring herself to disrupt the moment they were sharing. 

Since the first day of camp when they met, Waverly had consumed Nicole’s every thought. And tonight, holding hands by the campfire, she managed to make her way into Nicole’s heart. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole and Waverly go stargazing  
> Waverly learns a bit about Nicole's past  
> Sarah and Jenny continue to be amazing counselors
> 
> ***WARNING***   
> Nicole tells the story of a past bullying experience:  
> homophobic language  
> physical fighting  
> sexual harassment

“Hey baby girl!” Wynonna screamed from behind the bench that Nicole and Waverly were sitting on. This made them both jump apart and put some distance between them.

“Geez Wynonna, wear a bell or something!” Waverly said.

Wynonna chuckles, “Sorry, y’all did look pretty cozy. Who are you by the way?” She turned her attention to Nicole. 

“I’m Nicole Haught, Waverly and I are bunkmates.”

Your last name is Haught?” Nicole nods. “Wow, I’m going to have so much fun with this." 

“Wynonna,” Waverly warns.

“Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass her too badly. So, what have you and Haughtstuff been up to tonight? Y’all want to come hang out with the big dogs in cabin 1? We’re about to go prank that bitch, Beth, from cabin 2." 

“You're ridiculous. And no, Nicole and I were actually about to head down to the lake.” She looks over at Nicole and smiles. 

“Wait, are y’all about to go skinny dipping?? You can count me in!”

“Ew, Wynonna, no! We’re just going down there to get away from the fire so we can see the stars better.”

“Ugh lame. Okay fine. But don’t say I never gave you and Haught Potato a chance to hang with the cool kids.” Waverly just rolls her eyes as Wynonna starts to walk back to her friends. “Have fun on your stargazing date!” She calls over her shoulder. 

Waverly and Nicole both turn and look at each other with wide eyes and horrified expressions.  _ Oh my god, she’s weirded out. Does Wynonna know I’m gay? What if Waverly hates me when she finds out? _

They continue to stare at each other for a few more moments until Waverly’s face slowly turns into a gorgeous smile. Nicole can’t help but let out a sigh of relief. Waverly stands off the bench and offers Nicole her hand.

“Come on let’s go”

Nicole happily takes her hand and they begin to make the walk down to the lake when they hear Sarah’s voice behind them.

“Hey, where are y’all running off to?”

“Oh um… w-we were just…” Nicole stammers. 

“We were going to go sit by the lake so we could see the stars better.” Waverly finishes for her. 

Sarah smiles “Oh okay! Well if you walk a little farther on the shore line that way, there’s another bench by some trees. It’s far enough away to where you won’t be able to see the light from the fires. It’s a bit more….secluded.” She gives them a knowing smile. “Just make sure you take a flashlight and be back in about an hour for devotionals!”

“Do you have your flashlight?” Nicole asks Waverly.

“No, I’ll run back and get it.” Waverly turns and hurries off in the direction of the tents. 

“Hey, Nic.” Nicole turns her gaze from a retreating Waverly back to Sarah. “I just want you to know that you don’t have to hide anything from Jenny and I. You don’t have to be afraid to be yourself around us.”

“My-myself? Umm I don’t-”

“Nic it’s okay. You don’t have to be scared. I just wanted you to know that if you want to talk to me or both of us, or have any questions, please ask. I know that it can be hard to be feeling what you’re feeling, and at a Christian summer camp no less.” 

Nicole’s eyes widened.  _ Oh god, they know I’m gay. They know I have a crush on Waverly. _

Sarah lays a hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “Nic. It’s okay. Trust me. When you and Waverly get back from stargazing, why don’t you come find us after the devotional and we can talk. We’re called counselors for a reason ya know.”

Nicole chuckles, “Okay, I will. Thank you.” She turns and sees that Waverly is walking back over to them with the flashlight and the addition of their bonus blanket. 

Sarah leans in a bit and whispers “By the way, I think you and Waverly are adorable.”

This causes Nicole to blush and she looks down at the ground in an attempt to hide it from Waverly, who was now at her side with her arm looped through Nicole's.

“Alright, well you two have fun. Remember to be back in an hour!” Sarah turns and starts walking back toward the campfire. 

Nicole looks down at Waverly, “You ready to go?”

Waverly takes Nicole’s hand once again. “Absolutely”

…

  
  


“Okay okay, ummmm, have you ever been sent to the principal’s office?” Nicole asks.

“What? Of course not! I am a perfect little angel!” Waverly says in mock offense. 

“Mhmmm sure you are.”

Waverly laughs “For real, I’ve never been sent to the office. I’m terrified of getting in trouble at school. What about you?”

They had been playing the question game for a while. They now had the bonus blanket laid out on the grass and they are laying side by side looking up at the stars. Nicole had a feeling the conversations they had tonight might take a more serious turn. She was totally okay with that because she wanted to get to know Waverly on a deeper level. This also meant that Nicole would have to show her more vulnerable side, especially now that they have broached the subject of school. 

Nicole let out a long breath and found a bright star in the sky to focus on. “Yeah I was sent to the office for fighting last year.”

“What??? You are like the sweetest person ever! I cannot picture you getting in a fight. What happened?”

Nicole let out another long breath and turned her head on the blanket to look over at Waverly. “I don’t want you to think any differently of me… and you might if I tell you this story.”

“Oh Nic, that would never happen. But you don’t have to tell me anything unless you want to and feel comfortable sharing it with me.”

_ Could this girl be more perfect?  _ Nicole sits up and places her forearms on her knees. “I trust you, Waves.” She looks back and gives Waverly that famous dimpled smile. “Come sit by me?”

Waverly leans up and moves to sit cross legged in front of Nicole. She reaches out and rubs soothing circles on Nicole’s knee. “I’m here, Nic. No matter what.”

Nicole gives her a smile and lets out a long breath as she looks up again at the sky. When she looks back into Waverly’s eyes, she gives her a pleading look, asking her to not run away. 

“I guess I should start by saying that one of the main reasons I love this place so much is because it gives me an escape from school. This past year was especially hard because of people bullying me.” Waverly takes one of her hands and gives it a squeeze, encouraging her to continue. “I’ve always been a target in some way. When I was younger, it was always my red hair that people made fun of. And when I started wearing boys clothes instead of girls clothes, that also made me a target. I’ve always been called a tomboy and made fun of acting more like a dude than a girl. That stuff never really bothered me, because it’s just who I am. But…” 

Nicole swallows down the lump in her throat, the nervousness of what she was about to reveal to Waverly becoming a bit overwhelming. She looks down and starts picking at a loose thread on the blanket with the hand that wasn’t being held by Waverly. 

“Hey… you’re okay Nic. You don’t have to tell me everything tonight.”

She looks back up to meet Waverly’s eyes “No it’s okay, I think I just needed a second.”  _ You can do this, Nic. She won’t run away. _ She focuses on the feeling of Waverly’s hand holding hers, and allows it to give her the courage to continue. 

“It got worse this year. With the way I dress and how I’m into sports and other things that boys usually like, people started a rumor that I… that I’m gay. People started calling me a dyke, leaving the bathroom when I came in because they felt uncomfortable, and the girls wouldn’t let me in the locker room to change until the rest of them were done. Eventually, I just started changing in the bathroom down the hall so I wouldn’t make them uncomfortable.” 

She glanced up at Waverly with tears in her eyes. Waverly was now rubbing circles on the back of her hand. “You’re good, Nic. I’ve got you.” Nicole gave her a soft smile and continued.

“The hardest part about all of it was that I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t argue with them. I couldn’t tell them to stop. I couldn’t go to anyone for help because… because it’s true. I am gay.” Waverly stopped the circles she was rubbing on the back of her hand and Nicole’s heart sank and pulled her hand away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore or are uncomfortable sharing a tent with me now or-”

Nicole was cut off by the feeling of Waverly’s hand on her jaw, lifting her head so she was eye to eye with Waverly again. 

“Nic, I am not uncomfortable at all. What those kids did to you at school, I can’t believe that happened and I am so sorry you went through that just by being who you are.” Waverly wipes a tear away that rolls down Nicole’s cheek. “This changes nothing. You are one of the kindest, sweetest, most genuine people I have ever met. You being gay is just another beautiful thing about you.” Waverly leans forward onto her knees and places a quick kiss on Nicole’s cheek. When she settles back onto the blanket, she takes both of Nicole’s hands in her own and looks into her eyes. “I think you’re perfect, Nic.”

Nicole can’t stop the tears from rolling down her face. She lets out a sob, buries her face in her hands and Waverly is quickly by her side. She pulls Nicole into a hug and holds her while she cries into Waverly’s shirt. Neither are sure how much time has passed by the time Nicole’s breathing returns to normal. She looks up at Waverly and whispers a simple “thank you.”

“No, thank you. Thank you for letting me know this part of you. I want to know everything about you Nic.” She reaches for one of Nicole’s hands and laces their fingers together. They sit in silence for a moment longer until Waverly pulls back abruptly.

“Waves, what’s wrong?”

“So did you get in a fight because someone was calling you those names?”

“Oh right” Nicole chuckles “I totally forgot I was supposed to be telling you about the fight. Um, well no, it wasn’t because someone was calling me names, I wish it was though.” Waverly gives her a confused look.

“It was one day after school and I was in the gym playing basketball with Shae, waiting on my mom to come pick me up. Shae knew what had been going on, so when a group of my favorite tormentors walked into the gym, we both knew it wasn’t going to be good. There were 5 of them so I knew if a fight broke out, we were screwed. Anyway, one of the girls, Becca… well she asked me since I act so much like a boy… she asked if I had a ummm... a dick instead.” 

Waverly gasped at this and muttered “god, such assholes” under her breath.

“Yeah, so, I of course said no and one of the boys she was with said that they should check just to make sure. That was when Shae and I knew this was going to be bad. I tried to run away but the boy that said they should check grabbed me and another boy grabbed Shae. The next thing I knew, Becca was in front of me trying to pull my shorts down. Of course I was screaming and kicking but the boy holding me was super strong and she eventually got my shorts off. 

She was saying all kinds of awful things to me, things I don’t want to repeat. She um, she got my underwear halfway down my legs but she stopped when Shae came out of nowhere and punched the side of her face. I was so confused because I thought the other guy had her. Turns out she kicked him in the balls and then ran straight toward Becca. When the guy holding me was distracted, I kneed him in the balls, punched him, and ran away as fast as I could to get to the locker room. I locked myself in one of the bathroom stalls so I could calm down. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I got in there.”

“Oh Nic, I-I don’t even know what to say. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I was okay. Shae came in not long after that and she had my shorts with her. I guess the next day, Becca told the principal that Shae punched her and we were all called into the office. Even after telling the principal what happened, he only gave Becca and the two boys three days detention. That all happened about a month before school let out and I was just ready for it to be summer so I could come here. This place is always my escape. It’s where I’m happiest. This summer though.. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to top this summer.”

“What’s so special about camp this summer?” Waverly asks.

Nicole looks over at Waverly and sees the reflection of the stars shining in her eyes.  _ Just tell her. She won’t run away. Even if she doesn’t feel the same, Waverly won’t run away.  _ Nicole reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind Waverly’s ear and lets her hand linger on her cheek. “You.”

“Me?”

“Yes, Waves. You. I don’t want you to feel weird or anything but I have had a hard time keeping my shit together since you walked into the cabin on the first day. You are the most amazing person I have ever met and I had no idea that I would come here this summer and be lucky enough to meet someone as special as you. And I don’t want to make things weird between us or anything and I’m afraid that I’ll mess it up or-”

“Hey,” she cuts Nicole off. “There’s no way you could mess this up Nic.” 

Nicole smiles. “Remember how we said that we were going to try and do things that scare us while we’re here?” Waverly nods. “Well, you scare me. You scare me a lot because…” she reaches up again to cup Waverly’s jaw and rubs her thumb across her cheek, “Waverly you are so beautiful and I like you so much.” 

“You do?” Waverly whispers. “You mean... you like, like me?”

Nicole chuckles “Yeah Waves, I’m saying I like you as more than a friend. Does.. does that freak you out?”

Waverly shakes her head, “No, not at all. Actually…you scare me too. I’ve been scared of what I’ve been feeling this past week when I’m with you. I’m always so nervous and literally the only thing I want to do is make you smile. It was scary and confusing because I’ve never…” she trails off and looks down shyly as her face turns a shade of pink. Nicole gives her hand a squeeze, encouraging her to continue. 

She looks back into Nicole’s eyes, “I’ve never had a crush on a girl before. But as the week went on I figured out that this is more than a silly crush. I really like you, Nic. A lot.”

Nicole is smiling so big that her face hurts. She can’t believe that this is actually happening. Waverly is looking back at her with the moonlight shining in her eyes and the most gorgeous smile on her face. They continue to smile at each other like two idiots in love and then Waverly leans over to place her head on Nicole's shoulder. She begins playing with Nicole's fingers as they sit in silence and enjoy being close together under the stars, looking out over the lake. 

“Can we go back to the question game? I have something I want to ask you.”

Wavelry laughs, “Sure, what’s your question.”

Nicole lifts one of Waverly’s hands and places a kiss to her knuckles. “Will you go on another stargazing date with me tomorrow night?”

“Of course I will,” she giggles. “Can I ask you a question?” 

“Always.”

Waverly takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before lifting her head off of Nicole's shoulder to look up at her. “Nic… can I kiss you?”

Nicole’s heart is racing and she wonders if Waverly can hear it breaking through the sounds of the night. Not trusting herself with words, she lets out a nervous chuckle and nods. Waverly smiles and places her hands on both sides of Nicole’s face. Just as they begin to lean in, a voice comes from behind them.

“There you guys are!” They jump apart just as Sarah comes into view. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but we have to start devotionals.” She lowers her voice to a whisper and looks over her shoulder before continuing, “Jenny and I wanted to give you guys more time but we have to get everyone to bed soon.” Sarah glances down to their hands which are still laced together. “Looks like you guys had a good conversation though,” she gives them a wink.

Both Nicole and Waverly look down with embarrassment, cheeks red and small smiles on their faces. 

“Don’t worry, Waverly, I already talked to Nic. You guys don’t have to hide anything from Jenny and I. We are here for you just as you are. We were going to talk to Nic after devotionals tonight if you’d like to join Waverly.”

She looks over at Nicole who gives her a smile. “Sure, I’d love to.”

“Great!” Sarah says as she claps her hands together. “Jenny and I love both of you and we just want you to feel comfortable and safe while you’re here. I know it can be tough to feel what you’re feeling while being here and as your counselors, we want to help you with that. Now come here.” Both girls stand from the blanket and walk over to fall into Sarah’s waiting arms.  "You are both perfect. Never be afraid to be who you are." 

When they pull apart, the girls gather up their things and begin the walk back to the site with Sarah. Waverly grabs one of Nicole’s hands as they walk which causes Sarah to say “y’all are so adorable” under her breath. 

Nicole smiles like a lovestruck fool and her mind can’t help but wander back to their almost kiss. Nicole has never kissed anyone before but she would love nothing more than for Waverly to be her first. She starts thinking of ways to make tomorrow night’s date special just as Waverly looks up at her with that gorgeous smile. She leans down to place a kiss on Waverly’s forehead and wonders what she has done in life to deserve a perfect girl like Waverly Earp.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole and Waverly's talk with Sarah and Jenny  
> The second day of the camping trip  
> SO much fluff

When they made it back to the campsite, Nicole and Waverly hurried over to their tent to get their Bible and journal and Waverly also grabbed Nicole’s sweatshirt. Nicole thought that she looked absolutely adorable in the oversized piece of clothing with the sleeves ending far past her hands. Waverly turned away from her backpack she was digging in to find Nicole staring at her.

She eyes Nicole suspiciously, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh nothing,” she takes a step toward Waverly, ”I just think you look really cute in my sweatshirt.”

“I don’t think you’re allowed to call it ‘my sweatshirt’ anymore considering you won’t be getting it back any time soon.” 

“Is that so?” Waverly nods. “Does that have anything to do with the fact that you cuddle with it at night?”

Waverly eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

“The night after I gave it to you, I got up to check to make sure you were okay before I fell asleep. When I saw that you were cuddled up with it, I didn’t figure I would be getting it back. So I’ve been preparing myself to part ways with it for a few days now.” 

Waverly chuckles, “You are too sweet. Always checking on me.” She steps closer and wraps her arms around Nicole’s neck, pulling her into a hug. Nicole happily returns it and wraps her arms around Waverly’s waist. “Is this okay?” she mumbles against Nicole’s neck.

“Of course it is.” She leans back a bit and when Waverly looks up at her, she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. “You are so beautiful, Waves.” 

Waverly blushes and falls back into Nicole’s embrace, her head resting just below Nicole’s chin. “See? Too sweet.” 

Nicole just smiles and hugs Waverly tighter. After a few more moments, Nicole reluctantly pulls away.

“We should head out there. I think they’ve already been waiting on us for a while.”

Waverly sighs, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

. . .

  
  
  


After the devotional is over and everyone starts to head to the bathhouse to get ready for bed, Nicole and Waverly hang back at their spot by the firepit. When the last girl leaves to go to bed, Jenny turns to them, places her elbows on her knees, her face in the palms of her hands and gives them a shit eating grin. 

“So. Sarah tells me that you had an eventful stargazing date tonight. Fill me in!”

Before either girl can respond, Sarah speaks up, “Geez Jenny, don’t interrogate them! That is not what this conversation is supposed to be.”

“I know, I know I’m sorry. I just find all of this disgustingly adorable so I want to know everything!” All three other girls laugh at this and Sarah shakes her head. 

“Okay, well why don’t we let them tell us what they are comfortable with telling us and then go from there.” She looks over to the two younger girls, who both nod. 

“I actually have a question,” Waverly says. 

“You guys can ask us anything,” Sarah replies. 

“So, how did you both know that we liked each other?” 

“HOLD ON.” Jenny turns to Sarah, “You didn’t tell me that they confessed to liking each other! I thought that we were still at the ‘it’s so obvious that I like her, but I'm too scared to tell her’ stage.” She turns her attention back to Nicole and Waverly. “So let me get this straight. You guys just spent the last hour and half looking at the stars by a gorgeous lake, had some kind of heart to heart deep conversation, and also confessed your feelings for each other?” 

Nicole lets out a nervous laugh, “Uh yeah… pretty much.” 

“Wow. Okay. Well congratulations, y’all’s first date was more romantic than any I have ever been on.” Both younger girls giggle as Jenny lets out a huff of air through her nose. “Anyway, continue.”

Sarah speaks up now, “To answer your question, we kind of had a feeling that Nicole liked you from the first day. She was just so nervous around you and her ‘gay panic’ was definitely showing.” Nicole’s ears turn pink and she turns to hide her face in Waverly’s hair. “Hey Nic, don’t be embarrassed, we both thought it was absolutely adorable. That night, Jenny and I had a conversation about how we could make sure that you felt safe and comfortable while you’re here. We didn’t want you to have to hide who you are just because you’re at a summer camp that revolves around Christianity. As for you…” she turns her attention to Waverly. “Jenny is the one who figured that out.

“Yes, and that is thanks to the fact that I am an incredibly light sleeper.” Both younger girls look at her with a confused expression on their faces. She gives them another shit eating grin. “I was awake the night that Nicole gave you her extra blanket, so I heard you ask her if she would lay with you. My heart nearly burst when I saw you guys all cuddled up to each other the next morning. I made sure I woke Sarah up before the rest of the cabin so she could also experience the adorableness unfolding before my eyes.” Both girls giggle at this and Waverly leans her head over on Nicole’s shoulder. 

“How do you think your families would react to something like this?” Sarah asks. 

Not having to think twice about her answer, Nicole speaks up. “My parents would freak out. Kick me out of the house maybe? Disown me? I don’t know, but it would definitely not be good. One of my dad’s brothers, Chase, came out as gay and my parents haven’t spoken to him since. That all happened before I was even born. They told me about him, but just that he made a sinful lifestyle choice. My dad didn’t go to his own brother’s wedding, even though Chase was the best man at his.” She lets out a long sigh. “I just think that if they ever found out about me, the same thing would happen.” 

Sarah gives her a sad smile. “I’m so sorry Nicole. If something like that were to happen, would you have a place to go?” 

“Yeah I think so. I think my best friend’s parents would let me stay with them. I already spend half of my time there anyway. Plus, Shae knows that I’m gay and I think her parents have their suspicions after they overheard us talking about me getting bullied at school. Shae’s parents are amazing though, I don’t think they have a problem with it.”

“Well that’s good that you have others who will support you when you go back home. What about you, Waverly?” Jenny asks. 

“I think my family would be fine with it. I know Wynonna would because she has actually had a girlfriend before. My aunt Gus and uncle Curtis supported her throughout that relationship so I’m sure they would support me too.” 

Nicole looks down at Waverly, “That’s amazing, Waves.” 

“Yeah, I definitely got lucky with my aunt and uncle. I’m sorry your parents kind of suck.”

Nicole chuckles, “It’s okay. I’ve been preparing myself for the moment I come out to them for a while.”

Jenny speaks up, “Are you wanting to tell them soon?”

“I wasn’t planning on doing it anytime soon because I didn’t really have a reason to tell them. But…” she trails off and looks at Waverly. “But now I might have a reason to. There is no way I am going to be able to go back home and act like I didn’t meet an amazing girl.” 

Waverly smiles brightly up at her as Sarah and Jenny both let out a small “awww” at the same time. 

“Dang Nic, do you possibly have any older brothers you could set me up with? Because if they are as smooth as you, I’d be a goner.” Jenny says and gives the girls a wink. Sarah just rolls her eyes. 

Nicole laughs, “Unfortunately I do not have any older brothers.”

“Older sisters?”

“Jenny! Stop using our campers to try and get dates!”

“Sorry Jenny, I am an only child.” Nicole laughs.

“That’s too bad.” She turns her attention to Waverly. “You’d best prepare yourself. You’ve found yourself a sweet talker.” 

Waverly buries her face into Nicole’s shoulder and grabs one of Nicole’s hands, lacing their fingers together, “I know,” she whispers.

The two counselors smile at the interaction. “Okay you two love birds, we should all get ready for bed. But come here first.” Sarah says as she opens her arms. Nicole and Waverly happily accept the hug and it doesn’t take long for Jenny to join in as well.

“You guys can come to us for anything, you know that right?” Jenny asks.

“Yes, and thank you both. Thank you for being so supportive.” Nicole says. 

“You are very welcome,” replies Sarah. “Now you guys go get ready for bed and get some sleep, we have a whole bunch of stuff planned for y’all tomorrow!” 

. . .

Nicole and Waverly get a change of clothes and head to the bathhouse to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Now they are both back in the tent, Nicole securing the last zipper. She scoots back to sit on top of her sleeping bag next to Waverly, who is sitting on top of her comforter wringing her hands together. Nicole glances over at her and when Waverly looks up, Nicole quickly looks away and lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Why is this so weird now?” she laughs.

Waverly covers one of Nicole’s hands with her own. “I don’t know why you’re so nervous, but I think it’s adorable.”

“Well that’s good because I feel like I’m behaving like a useless awkward lesbian.” Nicole laughs. “I just can’t believe that you have feelings for me too. It almost doesn’t feel real. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to be able to hold your hand,” she laces her fingers with Waverly’s, “or be able to kiss you,” she leans over and presses a kiss to Waverly’s temple and whispers “you are so beautiful” before pulling back and looking into Waverly’s eyes, which are shining with tears. “Oh, Waves, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I promise. These are happy tears, trust me. You are just so sweet to me and you make me feel important and special.” She reaches up to brush her thumb along Nicole’s cheek. “You’re beautiful too, you know.”

Nicole looks away shyly, “I almost believe it when you say it.” she mumbles. 

“Hey,” she places a finger under Nicole’s chin, forcing her to look into her eyes, “I’ll keep reminding you then.” she smiles. 

Nicole smiles brightly and presses a quick kiss to the back of Waverly’s hand before laying down and getting in her sleeping bag. “Come here.” she holds her arms open for Waverly to climb into. Waverly lays her head on Nicole’s shoulder and places a hand on her stomach, clinging tightly to Nicole’s shirt. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yes, you’re like a walking space heater.” Waverly laughs. 

Nicole smiles at this and reaches her hand up to lace her fingers with Waverly’s hand that is resting on her stomach and starts slowly rubbing Waverly’s back with the other. She feels Waverly’s breathing begin to even out. “Goodnight, Waves.”

She snuggles up even closer into Nicole’s side. “Goodnight, beautiful.”

. . .

After lunch the next day, Wynonna and Mercedes came over to find the two girls and asked if they wanted to go swimming, which they happily agreed to. The four girls were now playing an intense game of ‘chicken’ with Waverly on Nicole’s shoulders and Wynonna on Mercedes’ shoulders. 

“Damn baby girl, who knew you were so strong!” she shouts as she struggles to push Waverly backwards. In a last stitch effort, Nicole runs forward as best as she can in the water to give Waverly a bit of momentum. Not expecting the charge forward, Mercedes loses her footing for a split second and this allows Waverly to be able to shove both of Wynonna’s shoulders, causing them to fall backwards into the water. 

When the two older girls come up for air, they see Nicole and Waverly giggling at them. Mercedes turns to Wynonna and says “We just got our asses kicked by a couple of 14 year olds... twice.”

“Yeah and I think that’s good payback for all of the awful nicknames you have decided to give me, Wy.” Nicole chuckles.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Haught Pocket.” Wynonna replies as she splashes Nicole with a wave of water. Nicole and Waverly both retaliate, splashing Wynonna in the face. “Now that was just rude.”

Wynonna lunges for Nicole and dunks her under the water and Mercedes and Waverly continue splashing each other. Wynonna goes for Waverly next, picking her up over her shoulder before throwing her back down into the water. All four girls continue splashing around and acting like hooligans for a few more moments until Nicole is hit with a tidal wave of water.

She looks over at Waverly who is staring at the sky, doing her best to act innocent. When Waverly’s eyes meet her own, she gives Waverly a mischievous grin and slowly starts to swim in her direction. 

“Nic…don’t you dare.” Nicole ignores her and begins to swim faster. “Nicole, I mean it don’t-” Waverly is cut off when Nicole lunges at Waverly and tackles her, causing both girls to go under water. When they resurface, they are both laughing hysterically. Nicole is holding Waverly around the waist because they are far enough out in the lake that she can no longer touch the bottom. 

When their laughing dies down, Waverly brings her arms up and wraps them around Nicole’s neck. “Hi beautiful.” she whispers. 

“Hi,” Nicole replies with a giant grin on her face as she tightens her grip on Waverly, pulling her closer. She leans forward and rests her forehead on Waverly’s, their eyes never breaking contact. 

Someone clears their throat behind them. They quickly jump apart and turn to see Wynonna and Mercedes staring at them.

“Ummmm why do I feel like I just watched a scene from The Notebook?” Wynonna asks. 

Both girl’s cheeks turn bright red. “Oh um, I.. w-we,” Waverly stammers but Wynonna holds up a hand to stop her. 

“No need to explain baby girl. Just be careful around here, yeah? You never know how people will react.” She turns her attention to Nicole. “If you break my baby sister’s heart, I will hunt you down and Haught-break your face.”

Nicole chuckles and looks at Waverly who gives her an apologetic look. She turns back to Wynonna, “I would never hurt her, Wy. I promise.”

“Perfect. Glad we had that talk. I’m going to change and get ready for dinner because y’all are so cute it’s making me sick.”

Both girls giggle as they watch Wynonna and Mercedes head out of the water and back toward the tents. “Well that went well.” Nicole laughs. 

“I’m sorry about Wynonna, she is very protective of me now after my…” she stops herself and shakes her head a bit. “I’m just sorry.”

Nicole notices how Waverly quickly changed the subject but decided that now was not the time to question her about it. “It’s okay, Waves. No threats are going to change how I feel about you.”

Waverly smiles and pulls her into a hug and they stay locked in the embrace until Nicole pulls away. “Should we go get ready for dinner?” she asks just as Waverly’s stomach lets out a growl that could be heard even in the water. “I’ll take that as a yes,” she laughs. “Let’s go.”

. . .

The cabin had their night-time devotional right after dinner so the sun was just beginning to set when it concluded. After helping clean up everything left out from dinner, Nicole hurries back to the tent to grab the blanket, flashlight, ‘her’ sweatshirt for Waverly and one for herself in preparation for their second date.

She emerges from the tent, takes a quick look around and sees Waverly in conversation with Chrissy. When she is sure that Waverly is distracted, she makes her way over to her counselor’s tent where she finds Sarah putting her Bible and journal back into her backpack.

“Hey Sarah, can I ask a favor?”

Sarah turns around to face Nicole. “Sure Nic, what’s up?

“Well...I was planning on taking Waverly down to the lake again tonight because she loved looking at the stars and I was wondering if I could borrow something of yours?”

. . .

Nicole returns to find Waverly sitting on one of the benches near the fire. She makes sure the surprise for their date is wrapped up safely in the sweatshirt she brought for herself before approaching the bench. “Hey, cutie.” She hands Waverly ‘her’ sweatshirt and blanket. “Still want to go on a date with me?” Nicole asks.

Waverly smiles up at her. “Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading and for your comments. It's still kind of blowing my mind that people are enjoying what I write.
> 
> Just a bit about this story:
> 
> Camp War Eagle and Beaver Lake are real places and it's the Christian summer camp that I went to as a kid. My first 'gay panic' experience was the summer I was 14 as well, although it didn't quite work out like it does in the story. I never felt comfortable enough to tell anyone about it until my last summer there when I was 17. I told my counselors because I was struggling with the conflicting emotions of being gay and loving Jesus at the same time. My counselor's names were Jenny and Sarah, they were absolutely amazing and are obviously the inspiration for the counselors in my story. 
> 
> Another personal note is Nicole's bullying story. My experience wasn't as bad as I wrote it for Nicole, but I did get pantsed at school in 7th grade in front of my friends for the same reason. Middle school sucks, doesn't it?
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for all of your kind words and encouragement and I cant wait to write more for you guys!
> 
> Feel free to find me on twitter @maggie_rbacks to yell at me if you don't like something lol or to offer suggestions. This is my first fic after all and would love critiques. Much love!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly and Nicole's second date  
> A glimpse into Waverly's past  
> First kiss attempt #2? Maybe?  
> Spying counselors

After the short walk to their spot by the lake, they find themselves leaned up against a tree, Waverly sitting in front of Nicole who has her arms wrapped around the smaller girl. They sit in comfortable silence, Waverly playing with Nicole’s fingers until the redhead speaks up.

“Okay, rapid fire question round. Are you ready?”

Waverly giggles and nods her head.

“Okay, favorite color?” the redhead began.

“Orange.”

“Favorite movie?”

“Dirty Dancing.”

“Favorite food?”

“Sweet and sour soup with a dollop of peanut butter.”

Nicole pauses her questions and Waverly turns her head to look up at the redhead. “What?”

“Nothing, I just didn’t expect your favorite food to be something that is absolutely disgusting.” she chuckles.

Waverly scoffs in offense and lightly slaps Nicole on her shoulder, “Says the girl that puts ketchup on her eggs at breakfast!”

“Hey now. That is a very normal summer camp thing to do. I’m pretty sure those eggs come out of a can. I have to make them edible somehow.” 

“That’s… a fair point. Okay, continue.” Waverly turns and snuggles back into Nicole’s front.

“Do you have any pets?”

“I had a hamster when I was little. His name was Pikachu.”

This causes both girls to giggle and Nicole hugs Waverly a little tighter. “Can I ask a more personal question?” 

“Of course.” Waverly replies.

“Well, I know you’ve mentioned that you live with your aunt and uncle so I guess I was just wondering… where, um, if something happened to your parents?” She feels Waverly stiffen in her arms. “Actually nevermind, you don’t have to talk about it, Waves. I’m sorry I-”

Waverly squeezes one of Nicole’s hands to stop her rambling, “Nic it’s okay, don’t apologize. It’s hard for me to talk about my parents. I usually don’t tell many people about them because they always just look at me like I’m some weak, broken little girl and I hate when people look at me that way and… and I’m scared that you’ll look at me differently.”

“You know what I see when I look at you?” Waverly shakes her head no. “I see everything. I see joy in your smile. I see the passion in your eyes when you talk about school because you’re so damn smart, Waves. I can see the love that you have for your sister just by listening to the way she makes you laugh. I can see your heart when you hold my hand. Your beautiful, beautiful heart.” She pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath. “But I also see the sadness in your eyes.” 

With Waverly still facing toward the water and leaning back against Nicole’s chest, she isn’t able to see Waverly’s reaction to her words. Nicole nudges the smaller girl a bit, encouraging her to turn around. Waverly does and sits cross legged in front of Nicole but won’t meet the redheads eyes. Nicole puts a finger under Waverly’s chin to lift her head up enough so that she can place a kiss on Waverly’s forehead. When she pulls back, Waverly is looking at her, tears shining in her eyes. 

“My mom left us 7 months ago.” Waverly begins. “Wynonna and I have no idea why. We just came home from school one day and she was gone. She left us a note on the kitchen table that just said ‘I’m sorry.’” We of course had no idea what to do so we called aunt Gus, who also had no idea that her sister was planning on leaving. She and uncle Curtis came over that night and helped us pack up our things. Wynonna and I haven’t been back to the house since.” Nicole was now rubbing small circles on the back of Waverly’s hand.

“Gus seems to think that my mom finally snapped and couldn't handle being in that house anymore. I um, I had another sister. Willa. She and my dad got killed in a car accident when I was 9 and Wynonna was 12. Since then, my mom wasn’t the same. She became very distant and never paid any attention to us. She was always too busy being stressed about money, crying or drowning herself in whiskey. Gus thinks the day my mom left was the day she finally broke and just couldn’t deal with it anymore. We have no idea where she went, who she’s with, or how to find her.” She lets out a deep breath.

“All of this has made Wynonna and I become closer though and I’ll forever be thankful for that. She’s my best friend in the whole world. Which is why I decided to come to camp with her this summer because I couldn’t imagine being home for two weeks without her. I’m not very good at being alone and she can be pretty convincing. I’m pretty sure her exact words were ‘you’re coming to camp or else I’ll tell all your friends that you still sleep with a stuffed dog and a nite-light.’” 

Both girls giggle and Nicole reaches up to wipe away some stray tears on Waverly’s face. “I’m glad she made me come here. I never would have met you.” she gives Nicole a small smile and looks into her eyes like she’s searching for some kind of answer. “Do you think I’m broken too?”

Nicole takes one of Waverly’s hands and laces their fingers together. “Everyone is broken, Waves. Everyone has pain. Everyone has something that they went through or something they are going through. I’m broken. I know that I’ll probably lose my parents when I come out to them. You lost both of your parents and a sister. No one should expect you to be perfectly put together after that. And it’s okay that you’re not. There is beauty in brokenness, Waves. And you…” she raises a hand up to stroke Waverly’s cheek, “you are so, so beautiful.” 

She lets out a choked sob and tears begin to fall from Waverly’s eyes once again. She covers Nicole’s hand that is resting on her cheek with her own and closes her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Nicole’s comforting touch. Through the tears, she looks up at Nicole with an expression that the redhead can’t quite place. 

Waverly leans forward to rest her forehead against Nicole’s and whispers, “Are you trying to make me fall in love with you tonight?” 

Nicole heart skips a beat and smiles so wide that her face might break. Waverly has left her speechless and all she can do is pull the small girl close to her in a tight embrace. Waverly happily accepts the hug and wraps her arms around Nicole’s neck. Neither of them know how long they stay like this in each other’s arms. Waverly is the first to break the silence when she mumbles something against Nicole’s neck that the redhead couldn’t hear. 

Nicole leans back a bit, “What?”

“I asked what your favorite color was.”

Nicole laughs, “It’s blue.”

“Favorite movie?”

“A League of Their Own.”

“Of course it is.” Waverly laughs. Both girls settle back onto the blanket, laying down to look at the stars. The redhead opens her arms for Waverly, who cuddles into her side and rests her head on Nicole’s shoulder. 

“Favorite food?” Waverly continues.

“Eggs with ketchup.”

Waverly lightly slaps the redhead’s arm as she laughs, “It is not you weirdo!

“Okay, okay fine!” Nicole says, still laughing. “Probably my mom’s spaghetti.”

Waverly just hums in response and snuggles more into Nicole. They lay in silence for a few more moments until Nicole sits up abruptly. 

“Nicole wha-”

“I have a surprise for you! Come here.”

She helps Waverly to her feet and has her sit on a nearby bench before hurrying over to where she left her sweatshirt. Waverly watches with confusion as Nicole fiddles with something in the darkness but then hears soft music fill the air around them. When Nicole turns around, she’s holding a small portable radio in her hands. 

“You-you brought a radio?”

Nicole makes her way back over to Waverly and sets the radio down on the bench beside her. 

“Yeah I um, I wanted to…” Nicole takes a deep breath and extends a hand to Waverly, “Will you dance with me?”

Waverly giggles and happily accepts her hand, “God, could you be any more cheesy?”

“I prefer adorable.”

Waverly playfully rolls her eyes at the redhead as Nicole wraps her arms around her waist, her own resting on Nicole’s shoulders. They begin a slow sway to the music, foreheads pressed together and eyes closed, each committing the moment to memory. Waverly moves to rest her head on the redhead’s shoulder and Nicole can’t help the huge smile that forms on her face. They dance together under the stars for a few more songs until Waverly pulls back and looks up at Nicole. 

“Nic?”

“Yeah?”

“I really want to kiss you.” 

Nicole smiles, “I really want to kiss you, too.” She begins to lean but Waverly stops her.

“It’s just… I’ve never kissed anyone before. What if I’m bad at it?”

Nicole places a hand on Waverly’s cheek and leans in until their lips are almost touching. “That’s not possible.” 

They stay like this for a few more seconds, Nicole allowing Waverly to be the one that makes the final move. Waverly leans forward and with shaky breath and pounding heart, she finally connects their lips. It’s a short kiss, a few seconds maybe. But it was enough to leave both girls blushing, hearts fluttering and butterflies swimming around in their stomachs. When they pull apart, they just look at each other with giant smiles on their faces.

“Whoa,” Waverly whispers. 

“Yeah,” Nicole agrees. “You’re a good kisser.”

Waverly shyly ducks her head, “Stop it.”

Nicole chuckles, “Waves I’m serious. I couldn’t dream up a better first kiss than that.”

Waverly chances a look up at her. “Really?”

“Absolutely. In fact... can I kiss you again?”

“Yes,” she breathes out. 

Nicole leans down and connects their lips once more. Waverly reaches up and grabs Nicole’s face with both of her hands as the redhead pulls Waverly closer by her waist. The kiss lasts longer than the first and when it ends, Waverly keeps Nicole close, their foreheads still pressed together. She reaches a hand back to tangle her fingers in red hair and after seeing that Nicole is still looking at her lips, she pulls the redhead into another kiss. 

Both girls pull away with racing hearts and blushing cheeks. Waverly rests a hand on Nicole’s cheek, “Hi, beautiful.”

“Hi,” Nicole breaths out. 

“I can’t believe this is real.”

“Me either. It’s almost too good to be true.” Nicole leans down and gives Waverly a quick peck on the lips. “You’re perfect.” 

Nicole begins to sway them to the music again and Waverly rests her head just under Nicole’s chin, loving the way that she fits in the redheads arms. 

After a few more songs, Waverly speaks up. 

“Hey, Nic?” she whispers.

“Hmm?” 

Waverly lifts her head to meet Nicole's eyes. “I think you’re gonna be my first love.” 

Nicole smiles and leans down to place a quick kiss to Waverly's lips. 

“You’re already mine. 

...

"I can't believe you talked me into this!" 

"Would you just relax! We're just checking on them to make sure they're not drowning or something." Jenny says

Sarah scoffs. "No. We are spying on our campers! Two adorable campers who are currently trying to have a peaceful date that you're going to ruin if you don't stop stepping on every damn stick!

"Oh you can't sit here and tell me that you don't- SHIT! Get down!"

Jenny pulls Sarah down to hide behind a fallen tree, "They're over by the bench."

Both counselors peek up over the top of the tree to see Nicole and Waverly snuggled up together on the blanket. 

"See, they're fine. Lets go!"

"WAIT!" Jenny scream whispers. "What is she doing?" she mumbles under her breath.

After a few moments, they hear the music coming from the radio.

Jenny looks over at Sarah, "Is that-"

"Yeah, Nicole asked me if she could borrow it. She told me that she wanted to ask Waverly to dance."

"That's so cute I'm gonna throw up." She turns her attention back to the two younger girls, now slow dancing. "Looks like Nicole's plan is working. After she asked you for the radio, how could you not want to come and spy on them?!"

"Because it should be their moment and their moment only! How would you have felt if you knew that our counselors were spying on us when you first kissed me by that same bench 5 years ago?"

Jenny looks down shyly and blushes, "Yeah, you're right... We could probably tell them that we're together ya know? That way I don't have to pretend to be interested in Nicole's non-existent smooth talking older brother or sister."

Sarah chuckles, "I would feel comfortable telling them. They are probably just as scared as we were back then. If they knew that we went through the same thing, maybe it could help them feel more comfortable with themselves. Especially Nicole, since she knows that she won't get any support at home."

"Yeah, I hate that for her." Jenny grabs one of Sarah's hands. "Hey, maybe we can adopt her!"

Sarah chuckles and plants a kiss to the back of Jenny's hand, "Unfortunately, its not that easy. Now come on lets go! We've seen enough!"

"Awe but baby, look at them! I feel like I'm at the movies right now and need some popcorn!"

"You're ridiculous. Come on lets g-" Sarah pauses.

"What is it?"

"Jenny, I think they're gonna kiss!" she whisper screams.

"Really?! I told you, we need popcorn!" 

"Oh hush! Look!"

The two counselors watch from afar as Waverly finally gets the courage to connect her lips with Nicole's.

"Awwww. That reminds me so much of us, babe." Sarah says.

"Yeah it does." Jenny smiles. "That spot must be good luck for lesbians or something. 

Sarah laughs, "Well let's hope their luck continues like it did for us. Come on let's head back."

The counselors steal one more glance back at the two girls who were still dancing under the stars, before walking back to the campsite hand in hand, remembering what it was like to be 14 and falling in love for the first time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading and for all the kudos and comments! It means the world to me!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Nicole's gay panic  
> Another conversation with Sarah and Jenny  
> More confessions of feelings

“Hey Waves,” Nicole begins, toothbrush hanging out of her mouth, “Do you think that Jenny and Sarah are a thing?”

Waverly looks up from washing her face at the sink, “Huh, I guess I never thought about it. Why? Are your gay senses tingling?”

“My gay senses?” the redhead giggles.

“Yeah, ya know, like spidey senses but your superpower is finding other gay people.” 

“You’re ridiculous.” Nicole finishes brushing her teeth before she comes up behind Waverly, wraps her arms around her waist and rests her chin on the smaller girl’s shoulder. “And I think most people call that a gaydar. But yes, Mary Jane, I suppose my gay senses are tingling.”

Waverly giggles and leans her head back on Nicole’s shoulder. “Well go on then Peter Parker, what’s your evidence?”

“I guess it’s mainly the fact that both of them keep saying ‘we know how scary it is’ or ‘we know how you feel.’ There just aren’t a lot of people that would be so supportive.” Nicole sighs.

“Yeah that’s true. If they are a couple though, I wonder why they haven’t told us? We would obviously be okay with it.”

“Probably the same reason we’re trying to be discreet. They’re scared. This place doesn’t want gay campers so they sure as hell wouldn’t want to hire gay counselors.”

Waverly sighs. “I really like this place, Nic. It’s been so much better than I ever imagined but…I also hate it. I hate having to hide my true self.” She turns in Nicole’s arms and buries her face in the redhead’s sweatshirt, wrapping her arms around Nicole’s waist. “I hate having to hide you.” 

Nicole returns the hug and sighs. “I know, I hate it too. It’s going to be even harder when we’re back at the cabin with everyone else. And it’s not like I’ll be able to sneak you off to some incredibly romantic lakeside location to take you on a date again.”

“That’s okay, Nic. We have one more week here and as long as I’m spending time with you, I don’t care what we do.”

The redhead quirks and eyebrow, “So does that mean you’ll go water skiing wi-”

“No.” Waverly cuts her off.

“But you just said-”

“No.”

Nicole sighs. “Wakeboarding?”

“No.”

“Tubing?”

“No.”

Nicole thinks for a moment before a smirk forms on her face, “Skinny dipping?”

Waverly pulls out of the hug and slaps Nicole's arm, “Nicole Haught!”

“What?! I’m just trying to find an activity involving water that you’d enjoy!” Nicole laughs.

“Swimming at the pool is just fine, thank you.” 

Nicole pouts and gives the brunette her best puppy dog eyes. This causes Waverly to completely crumble. 

“Damn you and your adorable face. Okay fine”,” she relents, “I will go on the boat with you but I will NOT be getting in the water.”

“Wait, you’ll actually go out on the boat?!” Nicole asks excitedly, logging that information away for later. 

“Yes,” Waverly sighs, “I will go with you and watch you attempt extreme water sports.”

Nicole smiles and wraps Waverly back into a tight hug. They stay like this for a few moments before Nicole speaks up again. “Ya know...we could enlist the help of Jenny and Sarah when we get back to camp. Maybe they could help us set up another date considering we definitely owe them for the one tonight. Jenny said that they had devotionals right after dinner so you and I could have more time by the lake.”

“Seriously?! Wow, they really are amazing.”

Nicole just hums in agreement and continues to hold the smaller girl in a tight embrace. They stay like this until Waverly lets out a yawn into Nicole’s sweatshirt. 

Nicole pulls out of the hug and chuckles, “Go shower so we can get you to bed, pretty girl.”

Waverly scoffs, “Oh please, my hair is a mess and I smell like a lake.”

“True, but you’re still pretty.” Nicole says as she leans in to kiss Waverly, but is stopped with a hand to her shoulder. 

“Absolutely not,” Waverly says “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

“I don’t care.” Nicole smiles and leans in again. 

“No ma’am. I still smell like fish and you are clean and minty fresh. Not happening.”

Nicole sighs. “Okay fine. Hurry up and shower then. I’m going to head back to the tent and pack up a little bit so we have less to do in the morning.” Nicole turns to leave before glancing back at Waverly. “You’re always beautiful, ya know. Even when you have lake hair and smell like fish.”

“Wow, such a charmer.” Waverly giggles.

“You know you love me.” Nicole’s eyes widened. “I um- I mean _it_. You know you love IT! My charm, not me. I didn’t mean…” Nicole stammers. “Ya know what, I’m just gonna go and start packing up and I’ll see you in a second.” Nicole turns around quickly and runs into the wall and Waverly has to bite her lip to keep from giggling. 

“OW shit! I knew that was there, I was just… yeah okay bye. Have a good shower!” Nicole hurries out the door, face red with embarrassment. 

“Smooth move Haught,” she mumbles under her breath and looks up to the sky, searching the stars for whatever dignity she has left. “‘Have a good shower?! God you’re such a doofus!” She closes her eyes and lets out a long breath before making her way back to the tent to wait for Waverly. 

. . .

While Waverly walks back from her shower, she is expecting to find a still flustered Nicole waiting for her in the tent. When she unzips the cover and looks inside, that is definitely not what she finds. Nicole is already asleep with her arms wrapped around Waverly’s pillow and the sight absolutely melts her heart. 

She puts all her bathroom things away and tries to pry the pillow out of Nicole’s hands, but the redhead holds on tighter. “Nic, I’ve got to lay down.” she giggles. 

Sleepily, Nicole allows Waverly to take the pillow and as soon as she has laid down, Nicole is pulling the smaller girl into arms. Waverly happily curls into the redhead’s side and places an arm over her waist. 

“G’night Waves,” Nicole slurs, her voice heavy with sleep. 

“Goodnight, beautiful.” 

Waverly lays there with a smile on her face thinking about how easy it was for one person to come in and change her life completely. She thinks about how nervous she was the first time their hands touched. How her heart fluttered every time Nicole laughed. How it felt to kiss Nicole. The fact that her first kiss was on the shore of a lake, under the stars, while slow dancing. How what Nicole said in the bathhouse made her smile like an idiot. 

When she’s sure Nicole is asleep, she leans over and kisses her forehead. 

“You were right, Nic. I think I do love you.”

. . .

The next morning, Nicole and Waverly are woken up by someone slapping the side of their tent, followed by a very loud Wynonna unzipping it and poking her head in.

“Time to wake up, you gorgeous little lesbians! Your presence has been requested at breakfast.”

Nicole just groans and covers her head with a pillow while Waverly picks up one of her shoes sitting nearby and throws it at Wynonna. “Get out, you obnoxious weirdo!”

“You better have kept it PG in there baby girl!” she says before walking away cackling.

Waverly lays back down and snuggles into Nicole’s side. “I’m gonna kill her.”

Nicole chuckles and takes the pillow off of her head before turning to look at Waverly. Her hazel eyes are half open, there are indent lines on her cheek from the pillow and her wavy hair is an absolute mess. The redhead can’t help but smile.

“Have I ever told you that you look beautiful in the morning?”

Waverly blushes and covers her face with the sleeping bag. “I look like a troll.”

“You do not! Quit hiding,” Nicole says as she pulls the sleeping bag away from Waverly’s face. She reaches over and rubs her thumb across the brunette’s cheek and starts to lean in but pauses, “Can I kiss you? Or do you have to brush your teeth first?” Nicole laughs.

Waverly giggles and puts her arm around Nicole’s waist, snuggling in closer. “Kiss me, you idiot.” 

Nicole smiles and leans in to connect their lips. The kiss is brief, much to the disappointment of both girls. 

“Baby girl! Quit swapping spit with HaughtStuff and come have breakfast with me!” Wynonna yells from outside the tent.

“How did she even know?” Waverly whispers.

Nicole shrugs and gives Waverly another quick peck. “I wonder if I’m going to get butterflies like this every time I kiss you.” 

“You are such a sap, Nic.” Waverly smiles.

“Hey.” she feigns offense. “I’m trying to be adorable and sweet.”

“You don’t have to try very hard to do that.” Waverly smiles. “Now let’s go before Wynonna graces us with her presence again.”

. . .

Nicole and Waverly are sitting side by side on the ground chatting and eating their breakfast when Jenny comes to sit in front of them with her own plate.

“SO,” Jenny begins, “How was stargazing last night?”

Both girls look down with red cheeks and smiles on their faces.

“It was um… it was really good.” Waverly says quietly.

“Just good?? Come on guys, details!”

“Well,” Nicole begins and looks over at Waverly who shrugs and gives her a smile, letting Nicole know that she was comfortable with Jenny knowing more. “We were stargazing and playing the question game for a while like we did the night before. And I um, I borrowed Sarah’s radio so I could ask Waves to dance.” 

When Nicole pauses for a moment, Jenny looks between them expectantly. “And?”

“Well she did ask me to dance and I thought it was cheesy but also super sweet,” Waverly smiles at Nicole. “And then we um… well I told her I wanted to kiss her.”

Just then, Sarah comes with her plate of food and sits next to Jenny. “Perfect timing! They were just about to tell me about their first kiss last night!”

“Oh my gosh Jen, I’m sure they didn’t want to be interrogated first thing in the morning!”

Both younger girls giggle and Jenny continues, “I am not interrogating them, I just asked one question!”

Sarah just rolls her eyes and takes a bite of her eggs, “Alright well if you guys are fine with telling us, then please continue.”

“Well, I told Nic I wanted to kiss her while we were dancing but I was super nervous. It took me like 3 songs to get the courage to tell her. But the way she was holding me and being so sweet... I guess I realized I didn’t have anything to be scared of.”

“So you just went for it??” Sarah asked, now fully invested in the story.

“Not exactly,” Nicole laughed. “She told me that she was afraid that she would be bad at it because she’d never kissed anyone before. After I told her that was absolutely ridiculous, THEN she went for it.” 

“So it was your first kiss?” Jenny asked and Waverly nodded. “Yours too?” her question directed at Nicole, who also nodded. 

“That’s so sweet!” Sarah swooned. “And you’re welcome by the way for telling you about the spot further down shore.” she winked.

“Yeah that place is perfect. There’s no way we could’ve gone on a date like that around everyone else. How did you find that spot anyway?” Nicole asked.

Sarah and Jenny share a look before coming to a silent agreement. “Um, well, Jenny actually showed it to me when we were campers here 5 summers ago. She took me there one night on our camping trip back when we were in cabin 5.”

Nicole and Waverly looked at them expectantly so Jenny continued. “We had our first kiss there too. Although, I suck in the romantic department so there was no adorable slow dancing or heartfelt confessions of feelings.”

“I knew it!” Nicole whispered to Waverly. 

“Wait, how did you-,” Sarah started only to be cut off by Waverly.

“Nic apparently has a good gaydar.”

All four girls share a laugh. “And I had a hunch because you guys are so supportive of us and kept saying that you understood what we were going through. There aren’t a lot of people that would go out of their way to make sure we felt safe.” Nicole said.

“Well, you’re right about that," Sarah began, “We were both so scared as campers. Our counselors were assholes so we knew we had to keep it a secret. As soon as we figured out that y’all were crushing on each other, we knew we had to make sure you guys felt safe. And to try and give you the time together that we wish we could’ve had back then.” 

Nicole looked back at her counselors with tears in her eyes, “Thank you. I’ve never had support like this. And I know as soon as my parents show up on Saturday, it’ll all be gone. I don’t know what I’m gonna do…” she trails off and buries her face in her hands and Waverly wraps an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a side hug. After a few moments, she wipes the tears and tries to pull herself together, frustrated at the fact that she became emotional. “I’m sorry, it’s way too early in the morning to be crying.” she tries to laugh it off. 

“Never apologize, Nic. That’s why we’re here.” Jenny waves a hand between herself and Sarah. “We are here for you both 100% for as long as we can be. So please come to us if you need to talk. Please.” 

Nicole sniffs and wipes a few stray tears away. She looks to Waverly, who offers her a gorgeous smile. “We will, thank you.”

“Good,” Sarah says as she wipes away a few tears of her own. “Are you guys all packed up?”

The four of them continue to chat throughout breakfast, including Waverly recounting Nicole’s run in with the bathhouse wall last night, much to Nicole’s dismay. After breakfast is cleaned up, they set out to pack up the rest of their things so they can load everything up on the bus. Nicole is trying to stuff the tent back into its bag when she looks up to find Waverly jogging toward her. 

“Come with me!” she says and grabs Nicole’s hand, pulling her away from her task. 

“Waves, what are we-”

“Just come on!”

Waverly pulls her along and leads her down to the lake and that’s when Nicole realizes she is being led to their spot and the redhead can’t help but smile. 

“Waves, we have to get on the bus soon!”

“Don’t worry, I already asked Sarah and Jenny if this was okay. But we don’t have a lot of time.” she comes to a stop near the bench and takes both of Nicole’s hands in her own.

“What’s going on Wave? Are you okay?” Nicole asks.

Waverly smiles up at her and pulls the redhead into a tight hug. “I’m perfect.”

Nicole happily returns the hug and holds the smaller girl, still slightly confused as to what’s going on. “What’re we doing out here, Waves?” 

Waverly looks up at her and cups Nicole’s face in her hands. “Kiss me.” Nicole raises her eyebrows with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Kiss me before we go. I don’t know if I’ll be able to kiss you again before we go home.” 

“I’ll talk to Jenny and Sarah and see if they can help me set up another date for us back at camp. We only have a week and I want to spend as much time with you as I can. I’m sorry this is so complicated and that being with me is hard. N-not that you’re _with_ me. I mean you can be with me if you want. I really really like you and would love to be with you but I know it would be hard to be my girlfriend since we live far away and -”

“Nic!” Waverly cuts off her rambling, even though her heart is doing somersaults at hearing the word ‘girlfriend.’ She pushes a stray strand of hair behind Nicole’s ear. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

Nicole doesn’t hesitate to lean in and connect their lips in the softest kiss. She wraps her arms around Waverly’s waist and pulls her closer and the brunette moves one hand from Nicole’s cheek to the back of her head, tangling her fingers in red hair. They share a few more kisses but none of them are rushed or heated. They are slow, soft and sweet, both girls pouring every ounce of emotion into this moment. 

After a final quick kiss to Waverly’s lips, Nicole rests her forehead on the smaller girls' as she continues to run her fingers through Nicole's hair. “God, you take my breath away every time you kiss me, Waves.” 

Waverly smiles and takes a deep breath before pulling back a bit to look into Nicole's eyes. “You were right, Nic. I-I think I do love you.” Nicole opens her mouth to speak but Waverly doesn’t let her. “And I know that’s completely nuts and I’ve only known you for a week and I probably don’t even know how to be in love because I’m only 14 and I don’t even know if we’ll get to see each other after this but I had to tell you. You really are my first love. And that sounds completely insane now that I’m saying it out loud. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

Nicole cuts Waverly off with another kiss. When they break apart, she takes Waverly’s face in her hands. “Well then I must be insane as well. Because I think I love you too, Waves. And you’re right, it is crazy. We’re 14 and young and stupid but that doesn’t make it any less real.”  
  


Waverly smiles bigger than she ever has in her life drops her head to rest it on Nicole’s chest. “Oh thank god,” she giggles. “That was gonna be super embarrassing if you freaked out on me.”

Nicole wraps her arms around the smaller girl. “I’ve got you, Waves. I’ve been scared to tell you the same thing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was afraid you would freak out and run away or something.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about that, I promise.” she smiles up at Nicole and pulls her back into a tight hug “I wish we could just stay here.”

“Me too, Waves.” She puts a finger under Waverly’s chin to make their eyes meet once again. “You make me so incredibly happy. The happiest I've ever been. And I know as soon as I leave this place and have to go back to my conservative parents and my shitty school, it’s going to be over." She takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I don’t want to leave you.” a tear rolls down Nicole’s face.

“Oh Nic…”

“I don’t know how I am supposed to go back home and act like this didn’t happen." 

“Hey,” she cups one of Nicole’s cheeks. “Lets not worry about that right now. We still have the week together. Just be here. With me. We’ll figure everything else out.”

“I love you, Waverly Earp.”

“I love you too, Nic.”

They stay there by the lake, wrapped up in each other’s arms, stealing a few kisses and not daring to break the moment they are in. Unfortunately they couldn’t stay in the bubble they had created forever. Nicole lets out a long sigh. 

“We have to get back to the bus.” 

“I don’t want to.” Waverly mumbles into Nicole’s shirt. 

“Hey, look at me.” Waverly lifts her head from Nicole’s chest. “Like you said, just be here. Be here with me for as long as we can.”

“Deal.” Waverly smiles. “Kiss me again.”

Nicole smiles and happily connects their lips one last time before they have to leave their bubble by the lake. “Let’s go, cutie. I believe you promised me a water skiing adventure.”

Waverly just laughs as Nicole takes her hand to lead her back to the bus, both girls wearing huge smiles and hearts fluttering with the feeling of being young and falling in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! I have been in quarantine the past few weeks so that's why I was able to post 6 chapters in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, I return to work tomorrow so it'll probably be a while before my next chapter comes out. Hang in there with me, though. All the support and comments mean the world to me! 
> 
> You can always find me on twitter @maggie_rbacks if you have any suggestions or just wanna chat. I always love meeting earpers, y'all are the best! 
> 
> Much love!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah shares a bit of her past with Nicole  
> The last night of camp  
> Will Nicole and Waverly get one last date?

It’s now Wednesday of the second week and Nicole finds herself laying in her bunk during rest period, the hour between lunch and free time, but is unable to take a nap like most of her cabin mates, including Waverly. She lays with her eyes closed but her mind is going a million miles an hour thinking about what has happened so far at camp. 

After the camping trip, Nicole and Waverly spent every second together. On Monday during free time, Nicole held Waverly to her promise of going to the lake with her. After a bit of encouragement, Waverly got on the speedboat to go with Nicole to watch her second attempt at water skiing. It just so happened that Jenny was on lake crew and was the driver. Jenny was able to make it to where Nicole and Waverly were the only two on the boat, even though they could have fit a few more people on with them. Nicole was thankful for this because of Waverly’s anxiety about being on the water. She stuck to Nicole’s side and did not let go of her hand until the boat came to a stop once they reached the stretch of lake that Nicole would try skiing on. 

Nicole’s second attempt at water skiing had been more of a success, but still included a few hard falls. Each time Nicole hit the water, Waverly acted like it was the end of the world and was on Jenny’s ass about turning around to go get her. Nicole thought Waverly’s concern was absolutely adorable. A few more attempts, Nicole put Waverly out of misery and said that she had had enough face first encounters with the water and they headed back to camp. 

Nicole is pulled out of her thoughts about their lake excursion by someone whispering her name. She doesn’t open her eyes thinking that she might just be hearing things, but it comes again. 

“Psst! Nicole!”

She opens her eyes and turns to see Sarah sitting up on her bunk across the cabin and is pointing to the door, gesturing for Nicole to go outside on the cabin porch. Nicole nods and slowly gets off her bunk so she doesn’t disturb the sleeping girl up top.

She follows Sarah outside and they go to sit on the steps at the end of the porch.

“Am I in trouble or something?” Nicole chuckles.

“Of course not! I just wanted to check in and see how things have been going the past few days with you and Waverly.”

“Oh!” Nicole takes a deep breath, “Well, Waverly and I are great! I made her go out on the boat with me on Monday. She was pretty much terrified the whole time because she’s a little freaked out by water but I was so proud of her! And yesterday I went with her to do the zipline even though I’m scared of heights.” Nicole gets a soft smile on her face before continuing. “It’s like we make each other more brave somehow... like we aren’t scared of anything.”

Sarah can tell that Nicole has more to say, so she just offers her a smile.

“That’s why I am so scared to go back home on Saturday. As soon as I get in the car and drive away from her, I know I’ll feel empty and scared and alone. I have to go back to a house where I know for a fact I won’t be accepted. I have to go back to a school where I get tormented every day.” Nicole pauses and angrily wipes away some tears that are rolling down her cheeks. 

“Before you had me come out here, I was laying there thinking how lucky I am to have met her. To know someone like Waverly who changed my life as soon as she walked through the door. This is going to sound really stupid because I’m 14 but… I don’t know how to live without her. I have smiled more these past 10 days than I think I have in my entire life. My stomach is sore from laughing with her and feeling free. For the first time, I feel like I can be myself without any judgement. And when I leave here, no one else in my life will give me that.” Nicole is crying hard now, struggling to get her words out. Sarah starts to rub Nicole’s back and quietly encourages her to take some deep breaths. 

While Nicole regains control of her breathing, Sarah looks down at the redhead that is leaning against her for support and sees so much of herself in the crying girl. 

“I met Jenny here when I was 15,” Sarah begins. “I was this awkward, dorky kid who loved coming to camp for the same reason that you do. I had a hard time in school... I was bullied too. Although, it wasn’t because I was gay, I actually had a boyfriend for a while. But I had braces and a mouthpiece that caused me to have a sort of lisp when I talked. So people took it upon themselves to call me Sid the Sloth.” Both girls chuckle at the Ice Age reference. 

“I give them props now that I look back, it was actually pretty clever. Kids also made fun of me for my clothes, my haircut, my glasses I used to wear, even the way I hold a pencil. They just found everything wrong with me that they could and after a while, I started to believe it all. I felt like I couldn’t walk down the hallway or sit in class without doing something wrong because all eyes were on me.”

Nicole lets out a choked sob at this, “That is exactly how I feel. All the time. Every day. At school and at home.”

“It was like that for me at home too.” Nicole gives Sarah a surprised look. “When I came home the summer after I met Jenny, of course the only thing I could talk about was camp and she was in almost all of the stories I told. I think my parents got suspicious but never said anything about it. I did tell my older sister one night though, and I thought everything would be fine. My family had never really talked about being gay before, but they had never spoken out against it. After I told my sister, she looked at me like I was some kind of alien and then ran out of my room and immediately told my parents.” Sarah pauses to steady herself, Nicole can tell she is fighting back tears. 

“My parents kicked me out that day.” Nicole looks back at her with wide eyes. “I am not telling you this to scare you. I am telling you this because I wanted you to see that even though that happened, I am here and I am still with Jenny and we have been together for 6 years now.”

“How? Where did you go after they kicked you out?” Nicole asked.

“I went to stay with my dad’s sister in the city. She was single and had a two bedroom place so she let me stay with her. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.” she smiles to herself. “Jenny lived in the city. We went to the same school up until we graduated. Her parents were very supportive of her and our relationship and now, they are my family along with my aunt, who eventually got custody of me after my parents signed away their rights. They didn’t want anything to do with me after that and I haven’t seen them since.”

“Wow…” Nicole breathes out. “How did you get to where you were okay with losing your parents like that?”

Sarah chuckles, “When that happens, I’ll let you know.” Nicole looks down at the ground, seeming defeated. “Hey…,” she placed a hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “I know you’re scared. From what you have told us about your parents and what happened to your uncle when he came out… I have a feeling that when you do, it’s not going to be good. But looking back on it now, I am thankful that it happened. It would have been exhausting to live in a home where I had to hide myself 24/7.”   
  


“I feel like I’m walking on eggshells all the time.” Nicole speaks up. “ I am afraid if I say one wrong thing, everything will blow up in my face. And I know when I go home, I’m not going to be able to shut up about Waverly. I won’t be able to talk about camp without mentioning her. They’re going to figure it out…” she trails off. 

“I hope they don’t Nic, but with the way you talk about Waverly, they very well might,” Sarah gives her a small smile. “And if they do and disown you like you think they will, I just hope you find your real family like I did. And I hope that you get to feel a sense of freedom when you no longer have to hide yourself and keep restricting the feelings inside that are always busting to come out.” Sarah wraps Nicole up in a side hug. “You’re an amazing kid Nic, and Jenny and I have had the privilege of seeing the true you. You deserve people who will love everything about you, not just the parts that you let them see.”

Nicole smiles to herself. “Waverly does.”

“I know she does. And I know you love her too.”

“So you don’t think we’re crazy for saying that we are in love at 14 after knowing each other for 6 days?” Nicole asks.

“Absolutely not. Jenny and I were 15 when we met. There’s no perfect definition of ‘being in love’ so it can mean whatever you want it to. If you feel like you are in love with Waverly, then you are. And I get the vibe that she feels the same way.” Sarah winks.

“Yeah… she told me she loved me the last night of the camping trip. I had been wanting to tell her the same thing but I was afraid it would freak her out because of how soon it was. When she said that to me, I knew for sure that I loved her too. My heart dropped like it does when you ride a roller coaster and I’d never felt so happy. She has become my everything, Sarah. Which is why I know when I leave here, I’ll have nothing.”

“Hey, you won’t have nothing! You live in the city don’t you?” Nicole nods. “Well Jenny and I still live in the city and I’ll make sure I give you our phone number before you leave. And I’m sure you and Waverly will be able to call each other too.”

“Yeah that’s true.” Nicole sighs. “I just hope I don’t have to wait until next summer to see her again. We already talked about it and made sure that we both come to this same session next year but I think it might kill me to wait that long. And she has already lost so many people in her life… I don’t know how I am going to be able to walk away from her on Saturday.”

Sarah wraps her arm around Nicole’s shoulders and holds her close. “From what I have seen go on between you two in the short time you’ve been here, I don’t think that there’s anything that could keep you guys apart.”

“Have you forgotten about my extremely homophobic parents?” Nicole laughs humorlessly. 

“You’ll find a way.” she says confidently. 

Nicole turns to look back through the cabin window where she can see Waverly on the top bunk still sleeping and wrapped in her blanket like an adorable burrito. She can’t help but smile. 

“I hope you’re right.”

. . .

It’s the last night at camp and all the girls in the cabin are getting dressed up for tonight’s event theme of the 4th of July, which happens to be Nicole’s favorite night. The event will include apple bobbing, watermelon and pie eating contests, relay races, egg tossing, a lot of dancing, a talent show and the open soccer field is free for throwing around a football, frisbees or whatever else the campers feel like doing. The night will end with all the campers gathering on the hill above the field to watch a huge display of fireworks. 

Nicole is currently lacing up her red, white and blue vans which will go with her snapback with an American flag on the bill. How other people at camp haven’t figured out that she’s gay Nicole will never know considering her wardrobe is that of a stereotypical lesbian. She turns to see Waverly adjusting her adorable red, white and blue tutu.

“Does this look okay?” Waverly asks.

“You look perfect.” Nicole smiles.

“You better not be saying that just because you like me.”

Nicole laughs, “I promise, Waves. You look great and very patriotic!” 

“Perfect! Let’s go!”

Waverly grabs Nicole’s hand and races out of the cabin toward the soccer field. They begin the night by stuffing their faces with Watermelon even though they had just eaten dinner about an hour before. Not being able to handle anymore food, they take a break and join in on a game of football that had been started by some other campers.

When the sun begins to set, everything starts winding down for people to take their place to watch the talent show. Cabin 1 and Cabin 40 joined forces and performed a lip sync battle to Disney songs, a tiny little girl sang a song from High School Musical, and another boy attempted break dancing. Nicole and Waverly were still chatting about Wynonna’s involvement in the lip sync battle when the counselor in charge of the talent show approached the microphone.

“And our last act of the night, please give it up for Waverly Earp!”

Nicole looks over to Waverly with a confused look, which the brunette returns with a smirk before standing and making her way down to the stage. Nicole is even more confused when she grabs a guitar and steps up to the stage like she’s done this a million times before. The redhead turns back to find Jenny and Sarah who are sitting a bit behind her and they both have shit eating grins on their faces, obviously already knowing that this was happening. 

The next thing Nicole hears is the strumming of the guitar and she just sits in awe trying to prepare herself to watch her beautiful Waverly sing. 

_ We were both young when I first saw you _

_ I close my eyes and the flashback starts  _

_ I’m standing there  _

_ On a balcony in summer air. _

Oh god. 

Nicole was definitely not prepared for this. Waverly’s voice was absolutely gorgeous and Nicole felt the world fade away around her until it was just the two of them. Waverly looks up and locks eyes with Nicole in the crowd just as she begins the chorus.

_ Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone _

_ I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do us run _

_ You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess _

_ It’s a love story baby just say yes _

Nicole can’t help but think back to their nights on the camping trip that they spent down by the lake. Nicole is convinced that if they hadn’t had that alone time under the stars, the two of them wouldn’t be where they are now. It would have been nice if Waverly had mentioned the fact that she had an amazing voice in the hours they had laid there talking. 

_ So I sneak out the garden to see you _

_ We keep quiet ‘cause we’re dead if they knew _

Wow. How fitting for their current situation. Who knew that two lesbians at a Christian summer camp could feel the same as Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden romance. Waverly had definitely chosen this song for a reason. 

_ Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter _

_ And my daddy said stay away from Juliet _

_ But you were everything to me  _

_ I was begging you please don’t go _

The last line hits Nicole like a freight train. She is going to have to say goodbye to Waverly tomorrow morning. She is going to walk away from her love not knowing when she will see her again. Nicole looks at Waverly who is singing her way through the bridge of the song and smiling brightly at the redhead. This girl has Nicole’s heart in the palm of her hand. 

_ Marry me Juliet, you never have to be alone _

_ I love you and that’s all I really know _

_ I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress _

_ It’s a love story baby just say yes _

When Waverly strummed her last chord, the entire camp went nuts clapping and cheering while giving her a standing ovation. Nicole stood but just continued to stare in wonder at her love who was taking a bow, looking absolutely beautiful and carefree. 

Nicole is brought out of her trance by a hand on her shoulder and turns to see Jenny.

“Come with me,” she whispers. “We have to hurry.”

“Jenny, what are-”

“Don’t ask questions, just come on!”

Nicole glances back to the stage to try and catch sight of Waverly but she’s gone. Jenny continues to pull Nicole away from the crowd and toward the trail that leads down to the lake.

“Wait, I have to go find Waverly! I have to-”

“Would you just hush and trust me?” Jenny cuts her off. Nicole stays silent and let’s Jenny lead her further down the path. When they round the corner of the dock, she sees that one of the pontoon boats with a top deck is tied off to the side of the dock instead of in its stall. 

“Jenny, what are we doing here? I have to go find Waverly, we’re going to miss the fireworks!”

Jenny looks over Nicole’s shoulder and smiles. “No you won’t.”

Nicole turns to see Waverly with Sarah jogging down the path toward them. The brunette immediately runs and jumps into Nicole’s arms, wrapping around her like a koala. Neither of them speak. They stay like this, wrapped in each other’s arms until someone behind them clears their throat. 

“We have to hurry, come on.” Jenny says, gesturing for them to get on the boat. 

Nicole hesitates, looking to Waverly to make sure she is okay with whatever the hell is going on.

“Don’t worry, Nic. This was my idea.” She smiles.

That was enough for Nicole to take her hand and lead her onto the boat. Once they are settled, Jenny starts to drive out to the middle of the lake. 

“Is one of you going to tell me what’s going on?” 

“Just wait.” Waverly says.

Jenny turns the boat so they are facing the direction of the dock, throws in the anchor and gives Waverly a nod. Waverly takes Nicole’s hand.

“Come on,” she whispers. 

She leads Nicole to the ladder that leads to the top deck and begins to climb, Nicole following close behind her. They make it to the top and sit beside each other just as the first firework shoots into the sky. Nicole is beginning to understand now.

“You planned a last date for us didn’t you?” 

Waverly smiles at her, “I asked Jenny for a favor. And I know that your favorite part of tonight is the fireworks so I wanted to get you the best view of them. Plus...” she leans in and kisses Nicole on the cheek, “this is super cheesy and romantic.”

“You are incredible, you know that?”

“Oh stop it. Now pay attention, you’re missing the fireworks.” Waverly smiles and then turns to look back at the bright colors lighting up the sky. Nicole shifts so Waverly can fit between her legs and lean into her front. She wraps her arms around the smaller girl and places her chin on her shoulder, just like she did on their second date by the lake. 

They sit in silence and watch the fireworks show on the top deck of a pontoon boat in the middle of the lake and Nicole’s heart soars in her chest. She’s sure that nothing will ever be able to top this moment with the girl she loves in her arms. The sky lights up with multiple colors of fireworks one right after the other, signaling the end of the show. When the last of the color is gone and there is only smoke in the sky, she pulls Waverly close and holds on tight.

“How am I supposed to be without you?” Nicole whispers. 

Waverly turns in her arms and places a hand on Nicole’s chest right above her heart. “You won’t be without me, Nic. We have a plan, remember?”

Yesterday, Nicole and Waverly had decided to keep in touch the old fashioned way by writing letters. This way, their conversations can be kept private without anyone snooping in on phone conversations, which Nicole’s parents had a bad habit of doing. They also wanted to always be able to save the words they wrote to each other.

“I remember. It’s just hard not knowing when I’ll be able to hold you like this again.” Nicole says.

“I know.” Waverly takes a deep breath. “Nic I… I just want you to know that whenever I get back home and go back to school, you’re the only one I’ll be thinking of. Even though we live far apart, I don’t want to be with anyone else. I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend and I don’t expect you to go back and not date someone else but-”

“Hey,” Nicole places a hand on Waverly’s cheek to stop her rambling. “You have my whole heart Waves. I could never see anyone else but you.” She places a quick kiss to the corner of Waverly’s mouth and keeps their foreheads pressed together. “God, I love you Waverly Earp.”

Waverly smiles and lets out a shaky breath, “I love you too, Nic.” 

Waverly leans in takes Nicole’s bottom lip between her own, connecting them in a proper kiss. This is the first time they have been able to kiss or say ‘I love you’ since the camping trip so both girls are extremely thankful for the surprise date. Waverly turns more in Nicole’s lap and wraps her arms around her neck, going back in for another kiss. Nicole holds on to her for dear life, afraid to ever let her go. After one last long, slow kiss, Waverly pulls back and looks into Nicole’s eyes.

“Please don’t ever leave me.”

Nicole places a hand over Waverly’s heart, just like the brunette had done to her earlier in the night. “I’ll never leave you, Waves. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: the last day of camp and the goodbyes that everyone has been dreading :(
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading and for all the kudos and comments! I hope you liked this chapter and I can't wait to share more of this story with you! Much love!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole being a dork  
> The final day at camp

“So how long have you been planning to serenade me in front of the entire camp?” Nicole asks as she and Waverly walk back to their cabin from the dock, a few steps behind Jenny and Sarah.

“I was already planning on doing the talent show after Wynonna told me about it when she came here last summer. I picked that song because I play it a lot at home which drives Wynonna crazy,” she laughs. “It’s just a coincidence that it relates to us too.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you can sing, Waves? Your voice is absolutely amazing!”

Waverly looks down shyly, “Thanks, Nic. And I didn’t tell you because our musical talents never came up during our question game. And… After meeting you, I wanted to surprise you with that song.”

“It never came up because I have no musical talent,” Nicole laughs. “Was that song your way of proposing to me? Because that’s kind of what the lyrics imply.”

Waverly laughs and slaps Nicole playfully on the arm. “No you dork! It just reminds me of us.” 

The brunette’s demeanor shifts from playful to serious so Nicole stops them on the path. She looks into Waverly’s eyes and sees sadness looking back at her. Waverly takes a deep breath before continuing. 

“I’m not saying we’re Romeo and Juliet or anything but there are a lot of things that want us apart. We obviously live far away. Your parents won’t approve of you being with me. Society sucks and high school kids are mean. There’s just a lot of bad things in the way of something good.” She lets out a frustrated sigh and looks down at the ground. 

Nicole is quick to wrap her arms around the smaller girl. Jenny and Sarah have paused their walk back to the cabin far enough up the path to give them some space but close enough to be there if needed. The two younger girls stay in each other’s arms until Waverly pulls back and looks at Nicole, her eyes full of tears that have yet to fall. 

Nicole lifts her hands to cup Waverly’s face, “Oh, Waves…” 

“I’m sorry,” Waverly blinks and lets the tears fall down her cheeks and Nicole quickly wipes them away with her thumbs. “I’m sorry. This is our last night together and I’m totally ruining it by-”

“Hey,” Nicole whispers. “You are not ruining anything. Everything you just said, I hate it too. I’m not sure what’s going to happen once we get back home.” Waverly closes her eyes which causes a few more tears to fall down her face. Nicole leans forward to press a light kiss to each of the smaller girl’s tear stained cheeks as if she could kiss away Waverly’s sadness. “But,” she continues, “I know that as soon as I get home, I’ll write to you even though the only new thing I’ll have to tell you about is the ride home.” This earns a bright smile and a small chuckle from Waverly. “I’ll write to you every day if you want. I promised that I would never leave you and mean that. I just got you, Waves. There’s no way I’m losing you.” She rests her forehead against Waverly’s. “I can’t lose you.” She says quietly, her tone full of desperation. 

“You won’t. I promise.” She places her hands around Nicole’s neck and pulls her down for a brief kiss. When she pulls away she holds Nicole close, their noses still touching. “I love you, Nic.”

Nicole smiles and pulls Waverly closer, memorizing the feeling of having this beautiful girl in her arms. “I love you, too. And I’ll remind you every chance I get.” 

Waverly leans forward slightly and whispers against the redheads lips, “You better not break my heart, Haught.” 

Nicole laughs and places a kiss to Waverly’s nose. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Your Romeo would never do such a terrible thing.” Nicole takes a step back before bowing and holding her hand out to Waverly. “M’lady,” she says in a horrible British accent, “May I escort-eth you back to the cabin?”

Waverly throws her head back and laughs as she takes Nicole’s offered hand. “God, you’re such a dork.”

“I was hoping for more like cute and chivalrous.” Nicole says as they resume their walk back to the cabins. 

“You need to work on the British accent first.”

“Oh like you could do better?” Nicole looks over at Waverly, her eyebrows raised with a look asking for a challenge.

“Actually,” Waverly begins with her own accent, “I believe that I have mastered it. When you watch the Harry Potter films as much as I do, it comes quite easily.” 

Of course Waverly could do it. Perfectly.

Nicole lets out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, you got me. I’ll try and step up my game before next summer. I should probably watch the Harry Potter movies too, huh?”

Waverly gasped, looking absolutely offended. “You’ve never seen them?? That’s a total deal breaker.”

Nicole chuckles, “Don’t worry, my friend Shae owns all the movies and the books too. I’m sure she’d let me borrow them.”

“Good. That’s your homework for the summer. But you have to read the books first because they’re so much better.”

“Can’t I just watch the movies?” Nicole whines. “The books are huge!”

“Absolutely not. The books go into so much more detail and it lets you make up a picture of their world in your head before you see it on screen. AND you have to let me know what you think about them in your letters! I think you’re going to love them!”

Nicole smiles at the excited girl. “Alright, I’ll read them. But you should know I despise reading so the fact that I am agreeing to this is a pretty big deal. I don’t think there’s another person on the planet that could convince me to read those giant books.” 

Waverly laughs as they climb the steps up to the cabin. “I think I could convince you to do just about anything.”

Nicole smiles. “I think you’re right”

. . .

Nicole wakes up later that night to the feeling of cool night air suddenly surrounding her. Just as she is about to sit up to find her blanket, thinking it might have fallen to the floor, she feels a weight at her side and is surrounded by warmth once again. Nicole opens her eyes to find Waverly, along with her bonus blanket, curled up into her side.

Nicole smiles to herself and moves her arm out from where it is trapped between them. “Come here,” she whispers. Waverly lifts her head briefly to allow Nicole to put her now free arm around her. The brunette snuggles impossibly closer into Nicole’s embrace, burying her face into the side of the redhead’s neck. The feeling of Waverly’s breath on her neck causes Nicole to shiver, despite the added bonus blanket. 

“Love you, Cole” Waverly mumbles. 

Nicole smiles at the girl who is too sleepy to say her full name and places a kiss to her forehead. “I love you too, Waves.”

  
  


. . .

The next morning after breakfast, everything seems to be moving too fast. All the girls are in a rush to get their stuff together before parents begin to arrive. Nicole and Waverly work silently as they pack their suitcases and wish time would slow down. Nicole knows how prompt her parents are and assumes that they will be some of the first to arrive. She still hasn’t figured out how she is going to walk away from the best thing that has ever happened to her. 

“Hey, Haught Pocket!”

Nicole turns to find Wynonna standing in the doorway of their cabin, arms behind her back as if she’s hiding something. She looks up to Waverly, who is sitting on her top bunk packing away the things she had in her cubby. “I’m definitely not going to miss hearing those awful nicknames.” 

Waverly laughs and begins to climb down from her bed. “What’s up Wynonna?”

Wynonna walks over toward their bunk and reveals that she has been hiding her polaroid camera behind her back. “I thought you guys might want to take a picture together. That way you can have something to make disgusting googly eyes at when you’re not together.” 

“Aww that’s a great idea. Let’s go on the porch!” Waverly says and grabs Nicole’s hand to drag her outside. 

“Okay lovebirds, act like you like each other!” Wynonna says as she holds the camera up to take the picture. Waverly leans into Nicole and places her arms around the redhead’s waist and Nicole wraps an arm around Waverly’s shoulders, pulling her close. “Alright, one, two, three!”

The girls stay wrapped up in an embrace as they wait for the picture to print. Wynonna places it on the railing, giving it time to develop. “God, y’all are so cute it’s sickening.”

Nicole and Waverly both laugh and turn to look at each other with shy smiles on their faces. Nicole gets lost in the moment, trying to commit everything about Waverly to memory. The longer she looks into the brunette’s eyes, the bigger her smile gets. She would give anything to see those eyes looking back at her every day. 

Nicole is pulled from her thoughts by the click and flash of a camera, Wynonna just having taken the candid shot. “This one will be for you, Haughtstuff.” Wynonna takes out the second picture and lays it next to the first. 

“Will you please come up with better nicknames for me before next summer?” Nicole whines.

“I can’t make any promises, Haught Potato.” 

Nicole rolls her eyes before returning her attention to Waverly. “You came up with your own nickname for me last night.”

Waverly furrows her brows in confusion. “What?”

“You were so sleepy that when you were saying goodnight, you said ‘Cole’ instead of my full name. Sleepy Waverly is very cute.” she chuckles.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry. Do you hate being called that?”

“Actually, no one has ever called me Cole before.” she pauses for a moment. “I like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Nicole smiles. “But only when you say it.”

“Then I probably shouldn’t say it in front of Wynonna,” Waverly laughs. 

“Definitely not.” Nicole agrees. “Speak of the devil.”

Wynonna walks up to the two younger girls and hands each one of them a picture. “They’re ready now. I managed to perfectly capture the googly eyes I keep talking about. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go throw up and then finish packing.”

“Thank you for this.” Nicole gestures to the picture in her hand. 

“Don’t mention it.” Wynonna smiles at Nicole and then turns to walk back to her cabin. “See you next summer, Red!” 

Nicole looks down at the picture in her hands once again, thankful that she will have a memory like this to hold onto. Waverly gently places a hand to Nicole’s arm. 

“Come on, beautiful. Let’s go finish packing.”

About 30 minutes later, Nicole is finally able to get her suitcase zipped up after shoving her pillow inside. She places her suitcase and backpack on top of her empty bunk and is about to ask Waverly if she needs any help when she hears someone calling for her. 

“Hey, Nic. Your parents are here.” Sarah says from the doorway. 

She glances up at Waverly and gives her a sad smile before walking out to the porch to greet her parents. 

“Nic!” her mother yells excitedly and pulls her into a hug. “We missed you so much. Did you have fun?”

“Always do.” she smiles.

“I’ll go grab your stuff.” Sarah says before slipping back inside. 

“I’ll go with you.” Nicole says quickly and looks back at her parents. “I have to say goodbye to my friend.”

“Take your time, Nic. We’ll just go wait by the car.” her father says.

Nicole nods and follows Sarah back inside. She sees Waverly sitting on her bed beside her suitcase, tracing shapes into the floor with the tip of her shoe. She looks up when she sees Nicole approaching her. 

“Hey, beautiful.” she smiles up at the redhead. 

“Hey…” Nicole breaths out, not sure how to go about saying goodbye to the girl she loves.

Suddenly, Waverly stands and launches herself into Nicole’s arms. She happily returns the hug and buries her face in Waverly’s hair. “I’m going to miss you so much.” she whispers. 

“I’ll miss you too.” Waverly whispers back. They stay wrapped in each other’s arms for what seems like forever, but it still isn’t long enough. 

Nicole reluctantly pulls back and looks into Waverly’s eyes. “You are so beautiful.” she says as a tear rolls down her cheek. “My beautiful girl.”

Waverly is crying now too and looks at Nicole with a smile and tears in her eyes. “Your girl, huh?” Nicole blushes and ducks her head. “Hey, look at me, Nic.” When Nicole meets her eyes again, she continues. “I know putting a label on us would make it harder and more complicated but I really am your girl. I only want to be with you. And I’m not asking you to wait for me or anything like th-”

“I only want to be with you too, Waves. I was going to wait anyway, even if you didn’t ask.” 

Waverly lets a few more tears fall and whispers, “I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.”

“Then don’t.” Nicole replies and pulls the smaller girl into another crushing hug. “I love you so much.” she whispers into Waverly’s hair. 

“I love you too, Cole.” she pulls out of the hug and glances at the redhead’s lips. “I wish I could kiss you.”

“I want to kiss you too. But having to wait will just make the next one more amazing when we finally see each other again.” Nicole smiles. 

Waverly grabs one of Nicole’s hands and laces their fingers together. “I’ll see you next summer then.” 

“Yeah,” Nicole begins to step back away from Waverly but holds onto her hand until she is forced to let go because of the distance. “See you next summer.”

She gives Waverly one final dimpled smile before turning and walking out of the cabin.

. . .

As soon as Waverly gets home, she asks Gus for some envelopes and stamps to have so that she can write to Nicole. She had told Gus the story on the way home from camp and her aunt was very supportive and happy for her niece. 

Waverly sends off her first letter to Nicole the next day and anxiously awaits for her reply. After a week of not getting one, she decides to write another. 

And another. 

And another. 

And another.

By the time summer is over and school is starting again, she still hasn’t received a letter from Nicole. 

She continues to write to her throughout the school year, hoping that one day she will come home to find a letter from the redhead in her mailbox. But it never comes. 

. . .

**Summer 2010**

Despite not receiving a letter from Nicole for an entire year, Waverly is still holding on to the shred of hope that Nicole will show up to the session they had planned to go to together. Maybe she lost the paper where she had written her address? Maybe her parents found out and wouldn't let Nicole send her any letters? Maybe Nicole just didn't want to write to her? No. That can't be it. 

Wynonna and Gus both came to drop Waverly off and she was very thankful to have her family there for support. They helped her unpack and get settled in but eventually had to head back home. After Wynonna and Gus left, she waited anxiously out on the porch of her cabin, waiting for any sign of the redhead. 

Nicole never shows up. 

**Summer 2013**

It’s the summer before her senior year and Waverly is finally in cabin 1. She came to camp every summer during the session that she and Nicole had agreed upon, hoping that the redhead would come. Despite not having such luck the past 3 summers, Waverly enjoyed going to camp and making new friends.

Over the past few years, she and Chrissy had grown close. Once school started after her summer in cabin 6, she figured out that she and Chrissy both went to the same school in Purgatory and have become very close friends. Waverly was thankful to have someone to confide it. It didn’t take long for her to figure out that Chrissy was very observant and had picked up on what was going on between her and Nicole 4 years ago. Chrissy was very supportive and was there for Waverly when she was sad and crying or angry and yelling. 

Unable to distract herself from thoughts of Nicole, Waverly finds herself sitting out on the porch, just as she had done every summer before, waiting for her. 

Waverly waited like she said she would. She never dated anyone at school despite being asked out a few times. Wynonna and Gus encouraged her to try and move on from Nicole but she just couldn’t do it. Even after all that time, Nicole still had her heart. She still longed to be with the dorky redhead that she fell in love with under the stars. And sitting here out on the porch, her heart ached to see Nicole. 

But once again, Nicole never shows up. 

After the final piece left of her heart shatters, Waverly decides that she can’t wait anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY. Please don't hate me.   
> Everything was going so well, it had to crash and burn eventually right??
> 
> Thank you guys for reading my story, all your comments and kudos mean the world to me. 
> 
> Keep the faith everyone! We all know WayHaught is endgame ;)
> 
> Much love!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly's first day of high school  
> Where the heck is Nicole?

**September 2013**

“Baby girl, if your ass is not down here and in the truck in 5 minutes, I swear I’ll make you walk to school!” 

Waverly rolls her eyes at her sister’s antics and adjusts the skirt of her cheerleading uniform one last time to make sure it looks perfect. After grabbing her backpack and a granola bar from the kitchen, she heads outside to the truck where Wynonna is leaning against it, tapping her foot impatiently. 

“Bout time, slow poke.” Wynonna says as they both climb into the truck. 

“Don’t be so dramatic, we’re not going to be late, Nonna.”

“Well you’re the one that made me get up at such an ungodly hour so you can be at school 30 minutes early. What’s that all about anyway? First day of school make out session with Chump?” she smirks as she pulls out of the Homestead driveway.

“Ew, Nonna, absolutely not! Champ is just an obnoxious jock who can’t take no for an answer.” 

“So you guys didn’t kiss at Stephanie Jones’ ‘end of summer’ party on Saturday?” Wynonna smirks.

“How did you even hear about that?” Waverly looks to her sister who just shrugs.

"I'm a bartender, Waves. We hear everything!"

Waverly lets out a frustrated sigh. “Ugh, no that did not happen. He _tried_ to kiss me after he followed me into the bathroom but thankfully he was drunk enough to where I could push him out and lock the door.”

“I ought to kill him,” Wynonna grumbles under her breath. 

“I’ll help you.” Waverly chuckles. “I can’t stand him and now I’m pretty sure the whole school is going to think we’re a thing.” 

“Try not to worry about it too much, babygirl. Something embarrassing will happen to some poor freshman today and the whole school will be talking about that instead. Just try and enjoy your first day of senior year.” Wynonna looks to Waverly and smiles, trying to ease her sisters’ nerves. “Why do you need to be there so early today anyway? Pep rally stuff?”

“No, Coach Shapiro said that principal Lucado wanted me to show some new kids around this morning. Apparently I did a good job when I showed Jeremy around last year and they asked me to do it again.” 

“Of course they did. Everyone loves Waverly,” Wynonna says in a mocking tone.

“Well, they don’t call me the ‘nicest person in Purgatory’ for nothing,” Waverly smiles. 

Wynonna rolls her eyes. “So do you know anything about the new kids?”

“Nope. I don’t remember what their names are but I think they’re both boys.”

“Ooo maybe one of them is cute! You could give him a tour of the make out spot everyone uses under the bleachers.” Wynonna winks.

“Wynonna,” Waverly warns. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Come on, Waves! It’s your senior year, live a little! You’ve spent too much time being hung up o-” Wynonna cuts herself off and gives Waverly an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

Waverly doesn’t meet her sister's eyes and stares out the window. “It’s fine, Nonna. Just don’t push me to do something that I don’t want to do.” 

“You’re right, Waverly. I’m sorry.”

Waverly never likes to talk about Nicole. Her mind is already consumed by thoughts of the redhead 24/7 even after 4 years. It took two years for Waverly to finally stop writing her letters. When Nicole didn’t show up for the second summer in a row, she didn’t see the point. Even though she doesn’t write to Nicole anymore, Waverly still checks the mail every day, hoping by some miracle there will be a letter addressed to her. 

“Nonna, are you going back home after you drop me off at school?”

“Yeah, I have a bit before I have to be at Shorty’s. Why?”

“I just…” Waverly looks down and fiddles with her hands in her lap, embarrassed. “I forgot to check the mail yesterday.”

Wynonna looks over and gives her a sympathetic smile. “Waves…”

“Will you just check when you get back home? Please?” Waverly cuts her off. 

Waverly hates herself for still holding on to the hope that she will hear from the redhead. She stopped writing letters. She finally stopped crying. She stopped looking at the polaroid picture she has of them together. She even stopped dreaming of Nicole. But what she can’t do, even after she tried to make herself after Nicole didn’t show up this past summer, is stop waiting. 

“Of course. Whatever you need.” Wynonna reaches over and gives Waverly’s hand a squeeze as they pull into the school parking lot. “Give em hell, babygirl! Don't do anything that I would do!”

"Bye, Nonna!" Waverly laughs. After gathering her things, she climbs out of the truck and immediately spots Chrissy by the front door.

“Chrissy, what are you doing here so early?”

“Hey Waves! Coach asked me to get here early too to help show the new kids around. She didn’t want you to have to do it by yourself since there’s two of them.”

“Oh, perfect! I was worried about having time to help both of them find their classes. Do you know anything about them?” Waverly asks.

“I know one of them is from the city. Coach also said they both play sports so I’m hoping for some cute football boys.” Chrissy smiles widely and opens the door for her and Waverly to walk into school.

Waverly just laughs at her friend and rolls her eyes. “I’ll let you show the cutest one around.”

“Maybe they’re both cute and this is the start of our very own John Hughes movie!” 

“Yeah Chris, maybe one of these boys will be your Jake Ryan or you’ll fall in love with him during Saturday detention.” Waverly laughs.

“Exactly!” Chrissy says excitedly. “Speaking of, do you have anything that you need to tell me?” she bumps Waverly’s hip with her own. 

Waverly looks at her, confused. “What?” 

“Maybe something to do with the party on Saturday?” she winks.

Waverly just rolls her eyes, extremely frustrated that Champ’s lies had made their way to her best friend too. “Whatever you heard, it didn’t happen. I don’t even like him! Champ tried to corner me in the bathroom at the party but I pushed him out. The big idiot still told everyone that he kissed me though.”

“I’ll kill him.” Chrissy growls.

“Wynonna already called dibs, but I’m sure she would appreciate the help.” 

They are approaching the office and Waverly can see principal Lucado fiddling around with the printer, probably printing off the new boy’s schedules. When the two girls enter the office, Lucado turns and greets them both with a smile. 

“Good morning, girls! Thank you guys for coming in early.” She turns and gestures to a boy sitting in one of the chairs by the door, “This is Robin Jett. He’s a junior and just moved here from the city.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Waverly can see Chrissy practically shaking with excitement. Robin is very handsome. He is wearing blue jeans, black vans and a Purgatory Devils football jersey. I guess Chrissy will get her football boy after all. Waverly takes first initiative. 

“Hi, I’m Waverly,” she extends her hand to Robin, who happily accepts it. “And this is my friend Chrissy.” Chrissy steps forward nervously to shake Robin’s hand and he gives her a beaming smile. 

“It’s very nice to meet you. I’m glad to meet some of the people that will be cheering for me on Friday nights. Will you both be showing me around?” he asks. 

Lucado speaks up now. “No, we are still waiting on one more student. But one of you can go ahead and start showing Robin around if you’d like.”

Waverly looks at Chrissy and gives her a wink before walking over to the printer to get the other student’s schedule. Chrissy volunteers in a hurry. “Sure, I can show you where your locker is first if you want.” 

“Perfect, let’s go then!” Robin hands Chrissy his schedule and they are about to leave the office when Lucado looks past them and toward the door. 

“Ah, there you are!” she says. 

Chrissy and Robin turn to see a very tall, skinny kid standing in the doorway with a ball cap low on his face. He is wearing blue jeans, red converse, a simple black t-shirt and a black and red flannel tied around his waist. He doesn’t look up but gives a small wave to Chrissy and Robin before turning his attention to Lucado. 

“Are we allowed to wear hats here?” He asks.

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid that it’s against the dress code.” Lucado says regretfully. 

“No worries.” When he takes off his ball cap, that’s when Chrissy finally gets a good look at his face. No, wait. _Her_ face. 

When she takes off her hat, short red hair falls to frame her face and it stops Chrissy in her tracks. “Holy shit.” she breathes out. 

When the redhead looks up and locks eyes with Chrissy, brown eyes go unbelievably wide. Chrissy diverts her eyes to Waverly, who is still standing over by the printer with her back turned looking at the schedule. When Chrissy looks back to the redhead, she is already slowly making her way closer to where Waverly is standing. 

“Waverly?” the redhead whispers.

Waverly’s heart stops and speeds up at the same time. She closes her eyes and thinks that this may be a dream. Maybe she is still at home in bed and is only dreaming about the girl she fell in love with saying her name. Her mind flashes through every moment of the last 4 years in a matter of a few seconds. The happiness. The nervousness of first kisses. The pain. The crying. The longing. The waiting. 

She tries to compose herself, but completely fails. She slowly turns and sees those big brown eyes she loves and the same dimpled smile staring back at her. The redhead lets out a short laugh and a few tears fall from her eyes. “It’s you…” she whispers. 

Waverly unashamedly lets a few of her own tears fall and smiles back at the girl standing before her, still trying to figure out if she’s real. 

“Hey, beautiful.”

. . .

**Earlier that morning…**

Nicole is lying wide awake in her bed, unable to calm her racing mind. She glances over at her alarm clock and sees that it’s 6:27am. Pissed off at the fact that she had woken up before her 6:45 alarm, she slowly pulls herself out of bed and stumbles to the bathroom with the expectation of taking an extra long and extra hot shower. 

Today is her first day of senior year at a new school in a new town. She had moved there with her uncle Chase and his husband Dalton a few weeks ago and everyone was still in the process of unpacking the new house. 

Once out of the shower, Nicole digs through one of the boxes that still holds a lot of her clothes to try and find her favorite flannel. She wants to go with a simple outfit but also not too boring. She puts on her blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt before digging in another box to find her red converse. She glances at the clock again, checking how she’s doing on time. 

She has to be at the school by 7:30 so someone can show her around. When Chase told her that she had to be there early, she was reluctant and insisted that she could find her own way around the school. Never being able to resist her uncle’s words of encouragement, she finally gave in. 

She grabs her backpack and her flannel then makes her way downstairs to the kitchen where she finds Chase making himself some coffee. 

“Pouring yourself a cup of ambition?” she asks, playing into the ongoing joke they have in the mornings about the Dolly Parton song.

Chase chuckles, “Of course. It’s a must have when you work 9-5!” 

Nicole sighs and plops down in one of the chairs at the kitchen island, “Yeah well it took everything I had to tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen this morning.”

Chase gives her a sympathetic look. “You’ll be fine, Nic. Plus, Dalton told me before he took off this morning that the Sheriff's daughter is also a senior so you’ll know at least one person. I think he said her name is Chris? Or Chrissy maybe?”

“Wait.” Nicole feels her heartbeat speed up. “Chrissy Nedley?”

“Yeah I believe so. Are you alright? You look pale all of a sudden.”

“Yeah I’m fine. It’s just…” she trails off and tries to collect her racing thoughts. “There was a girl in my cabin at camp one summer named Chrissy Nedley. I never knew where she was from though.” 

“Was it…” Chase trails off, knowing that he needed to choose his words carefully. “Was it _that_ summer?”

Nicole looks down and starts fiddling with a loose string on her flannel. “Yeah. It was the summer I met her.” 

“Well maybe this is good news?” Chase says and Nicole snaps her attention back to him. He takes a breath before continuing. “Just hear me out okay? You said she was from Purgatory right?”

Nicole nods. “Yeah, she said she lived here but who knows if she still does. And on top of that, she probably won’t even want to see me or talk to me. She probably thinks I ignored her, Chase. She asked me to never leave her and I promised I wouldn’t! I promised I would see her that next summer.” Nicole pauses to wipe away the tears falling down her cheeks. “She probably hates me.” 

Chase walks around the kitchen island to wrap Nicole in a hug, which she gratefully accepts. “None of what happened is your fault, Nic. There is nothing you could have done to prevent what happened.” He pulls back and looks down at his niece, tears still streaming down her face. “From what you have told me about that girl, which is A LOT,” this earns a smile from Nicole, “I think she would understand. If you get the chance to sit down and explain everything that happened, she wouldn’t run away from you.”

Nicole buries her face back into her uncle’s chest, finding comfort in his arms. “I hope so. But we don’t even know if she still lives here.”

“Well, that’s why I said maybe knowing that Chrissy goes to school here is a good thing. Maybe she knows if Waverly is still here or even where she lives.” He gives Nicole a knowing smile. “If she does, you’ve got some letters to send that are long overdue.”

Nicole looks away with a blush. “Yeah, yeah I know I’m a ridiculous hopeless romantic lesbian, you don’t have to remind me.” 

Chase laughs. “It’s not ridiculous, Nic. I think it’s incredible that you still wrote them even though you couldn’t send them.” 

Nicole just shrugs. “I loved her Chase. I think I still do. I kept them so that if I ever got the chance to see her again, she would know that I didn’t forget about her. That I didn’t choose to leave her.”

Chase smiles proudly at his niece. “Well,” he moves back around the island and picks up his coffee once again, “Let’s hope that you run into Chrissy today. If not, maybe Dalton can do some digging at the station once he’s done learning the ropes.” He grabs an energy bar from the cabinet and tosses it to Nicole. “There’s your version of a cup of ambition since you hate coffee. Now get a move on, you don’t want to be late for your grand tour!” 

Nicole playfully rolls her eyes at her uncle and gives him one more hug before grabbing her things and hurrying out the door. 

. . .

Nicole pulls into the parking lot of Purgatory High school and sees that there are only a few other cars in the parking lot. She finds a spot close to the front and once the car is in park, she closes her eyes and throws her head back against the headrest. “You can do this, Haught.” she says into the silence of her car.

She sits up to check herself one more time in the rearview mirror. “Shit.” Her eyes are still red and puffy from crying back at home. She frantically tries to come up with an idea about how to hide her eyes but comes up with nothing. She kicks herself for not having sunglasses. Remembering that she still had some boxes in the back, she grabs her keys and backpack and goes to unlock the trunk. To her relief, she finds a purple Minnesota Vikings ballcap. It doesn’t go with her outfit, but she’s out of options. 

After taking a deep breath and rubbing her eyes, wishing the redness away, she starts walking toward the front doors of the school. The halls are dark, silent and remind Nicole of an abandoned school you might see on The Walking Dead. Rounding the corner, she finally hears voices and follows them until she finds the office. She sees a boy and girl with their backs to her and a woman that she assumes is the principal. 

“Ah, there you are!” 

The boy and girl turn to look in her direction but knowing that her eyes are probably still red, she keeps her eyes on her shoes and gives a small wave. She’s not sure if hats are allowed at this school, but if she’s going to have to take it off, she might as well get it over with now. 

“Are we allowed to wear hats here?” she asks.

Principal Lucado gives her a regretful smile. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid that it’s against the dress code.” 

“No worries.” She sighs and removes her hat, allowing her red hair to fall freely around her face. 

“Holy shit.” Nicole looks up toward the direction she heard the voice and realizes it came from the girl that had been talking with the principal. Once she gets a good look at the girl in front of her, realization hits her like a ton of bricks. It’s Chrissy Nedley. 

Nicole follows Chrissy’s gaze over to a girl that she hadn’t noticed yet standing over by the printer in the corner. Nicole feels her heart jump into her throat. Even with her back turned, Nicole knows that’s her girl. Her Waverly. She unknowingly starts walking toward her, Waverly drawing her in like a magnet. She can feel the tears welling up in her eyes and makes no effort to stop them. Letting out a shaky breath, attempting to steady herself, she finally speaks. 

“Waverly?” 

She sees Waverly’s body go stiff and Nicole starts to prepare herself for whatever is about to happen. Will Waverly yell at her? Will she run away? Will she run and jump into Nicole’s arms and tell her she still loves her? 

Waverly slowly begins to turn around and Nicole holds her breath. She is met with teary hazel eyes and Waverly’s same beautiful smile that keeps growing until the edges of her eyes begin to crinkle. Nicole takes a moment to look at every feature of the beautiful girl before her and realizes that she hasn't forgotten a thing. Her gaze lingers on her gorgeous eyes, then down to the button nose that she thinks is so adorable. Her gaze moves down to focus on the lips that Nicole has been dreaming of kissing for the past 4 years. She looks into Waverly's eyes once again and doesn't see anger or sadness or hurt. Her eyes are excited and searching as if they are asking if what's happening right now is real. Nicole makes a sound that she’s not sure is a laugh or a sob and lets the tears fall freely down her cheeks. “It’s you…” she whispers.

Waverly begins to cry now too but her smile grows impossibly brighter. 

“Hey, beautiful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys don't hate me anymore lol 
> 
> Next chapter will consist of a much needed explanation from Nicole. 
> 
> Feel free to yell at me on twitter (@maggie_rbacks) if you're still angry or just want to chat! Thank you guys so much for reading this story and for all of your comments and kudos. Also, is anyone going to Earp-a-Palooza in Columbus, OH this October? I'm going alone so it would be nice to know at least one person lol 
> 
> Much love!


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